The new year is coming. It's the day 1 January 2024 will soon be marked as the day of extinction of the Regional Directorates of Agriculture and Fisheries (MURDER). A decision by António Costa's government that was highly contested by most farmers' associations.
All DRAP responsibilities pass to the Regional Coordination and Development Committees (CCDR), that are not supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, now spread across six different departments: Regional Planning and Development Unit; Environment Unit; Agriculture and Fisheries Investment Unit; Licensing Unit, Control and Statistics; Rural Development Unit, Agri-food and Fisheries; and Territorial Coordination Unit.
The Regional Directorates of Agriculture and Fisheries have been highlighted by farmers as a “precious instrument of proximity”. A feeling that is felt, since DRAP currently has the responsibility, for example, "to execute, in the respective region, agricultural policy measures, rural development and fisheries, in accordance with the standards and guidelines established by the central services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, contributing to their monitoring and evaluation”.
In other words, a series of issues that farmers could deal with in one structure, as KILLING, are now dispersed across six CCDR “Units”. Six.
Single Agriculture Portal disappeared?
curiously, This is a decision by a Government in which the Ministry of Agriculture, on September 2021, announced the launch of the Single Agriculture Portal, which aims to centralize “information on agricultural activity, Competition notices and forms. The new platform also provides information on support and incentives, public entities and online services, between others".
Now, this Single Agriculture Portal, that promised to put all matters in one place, There are no new publications, in terms of news, from 23 May 2023. The last “scheduled” event announces the visit of the Minister of Agriculture and Food, a 24 August 2023, to FATACIL – Crafts Fair, Tourism, Agriculture, Commerce and Industry of Lagoa. And the last analysis of “Evolution of Applications” within the scope of the Single Request is dated 13 March 2023.
The announced death of Agrogarante
But 2024 It really doesn't start well for farmers. Even with regard to the mutual guarantee system, mainly used by small and medium-sized companies.
One day before Prime Minister António Costa resigns, a 7 November, the Portuguese Development Bank (BPF) — State financial institution that aims to provide financial capacity to the national business ecosystem and accelerate the various existing sources of financing — announced in a statement that “it will manage the process of merging mutual guarantee companies”.
The BPF “proposed to the Government, who accepted, the beginning of the corporate reorganization process of SGMs, [multiple guarantee companies] through merger operations by incorporation of three of the companies, as incorporated companies, in just one, as an acquiring company, passing, so, the system to have only one SGM”, revealed the institution's statement.
So, Agrogarante – Mutual Guarantee Society, Garval – Mutual Guarantee Society and Lisgarante – Mutual Guarantee Society will be merged into Norgarante – Mutual Guarantee Society. This means that farmers in the south of Portugal will start to deal with their financing, with mutual guarantee help, with SGM now dedicated to the North region.
The Agroguarante, incorporated in 2006, allowed the extension of the activity of the Portuguese Mutual Guarantee System to the agro-forestry sector. In 2024, Another direct link between farmers and the financial system disappears. That is to say: 2024 bad start for Agriculture.
News: Lidador News/ Agriculturaemar.com
