Ricardo Lume (PCP) presented the proposal, while the PS committed themselves to supporting the proposal and their deputy Sílvia Silva was particularly expressive on the subject. However, PS deputy Sílvia Silva snidely remarked that “it is a proposal which is so good, so good, that your party in the Assembly of the Republic voted for the bill.”
Wading into the argument, Elisa Seixas, member of the Regional Legislative Assembly, stated that Madeira cannot “continue to be dependent on what comes from outside, and it is important to reinforce the robustness of our regional products. Furthermore, the incentive for large-scale production leaves us uncompetitive, while small-scale producers are desperate.” However, she did point out that the draft proposal fell short as it only covers agriculture and livestock. While these are important, so are fish.
This issue also dates back to the widespread need to legislate mandatory regional consumption in school cafeterias.
Ana Cristina Monteiro (CDS) said that these measures have already been debated and that the Secretary of Agriculture was already making progress on this issue, although she admitted there was still a long way to go, and as such, the communist party was sadly out of date.
JPP representative Rafael Nunes considers that it is a good opportunity but added that similar attempts in the past to help small and medium sized farmers had failed. He went on to say that subsidies were needed, but farmers also needed to be given the correct tools so that they could thrive and not become dependent on financial handouts. He concluded by saying that the regional government was not interested in the land and preferred subsidies from other sectors of society.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
