Losses in the agricultural sector are already around 500 million, but support continues to arrive

The agricultural sector declared losses of around 500 million euros due to bad weather, which still need to be verified, according to the last survey CAP had access to, and support has not yet reached the ground. “The last value I saw in the survey reached almost R$500 million. [O levantamento] It is declaratory and still needs to be verified, but we are not at that stage yet. Nobody applied for anything”, said the general secretary of the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), Luís Mira, in statements to Lusa.

The confederation regretted that the Government, after a month and a half since the ‘train’ of storms affected the country, had not come forward with specific support for the agricultural sector. According to CAP, the sector only benefited from extraordinary support of up to 10,000 euros per candidate from municipalities declared in a situation of calamity.

“No applications for support are even presented. A survey was carried out [dos prejuízos]but there are no deadlines, values ​​or rules“, said the secretary general of CAP. On February 12, the Ministry of Agriculture told Lusa that 4,208 declarations of losses due to bad weather, worth 303 million euros, had been submitted.

The ministry led by José Manuel Fernandes announced, at the end of January, the opening of a measure to restore production potential, due to the impact of bad weather, for investments between R$5 thousand and R$400 thousand. The support rate can reach 100% up to a maximum of 10,000 euros.

At least 19 people have died in Portugal since January 28th following the passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, who also left several hundred injured, homeless and displaced. More than half of the deaths were recorded in recovery work.

The storms, which hit the mainland for around three weeks, caused the total or partial destruction of thousands of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the cutting of energy, water and communications, floods and floods, with losses of billions of euros. The Centre, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions were the most affected.