“Madeira’s agriculture is not just bananas.” Dinarte Fernandes, Mayor of Santana, made this remark while attending the Lemon Festival this afternoon.
The CDS-PP Mayor justified the observation not only because Santana does not produce a lot of bananas, but because he understands that it is important that in the next legislature, a four-year legislature of stability, the Regional Government should look at other sectors of agriculture, namely horticulture, and look at Santana as a sweet potato and lemon producing municipality. And that these, are just as important as bananas to the region’s agriculture and economy.
Dinarte Fernandes considers this to be the way forward. We have to have a resilient population, and a business sector focused on acquiring regional products, because only then can we have a more independent, more autonomous economy that is less susceptible to external factors, such as climate change, geopolitical conditions, and the lack of available agriculture space. But here in Santana, we have the space and we can create a sustainable agricultural base.
He justified his critical stance by saying that the new Regional Government needs to look beyond the quick fix payouts of tourism and provide the adequate conditions to make the region, especially Santana a centre of farming excellence, and provide the necessary conditions and support to ensure that the municipalities producers have a chance to grow as well as attract younger generations of farmers.
He also thanked Rafaela Fernandes for her “openness to talk to the Municipality of Santana” and to recall the Government’s commitments, such as the future cider factory of São Roque do Faial, and the certainty that the City Council “will not let the government be distracted away from the needs of the parish.” She further announced the conversion of the Agrarian Post of Santana into an experimental seed centre, a reconversion he hopes will bring further agricultural value to the region.”
