1st Alto Tâmega e Barroso Bio Region Forum counted with the participation of the Secretary of State of Agriculture
The Secretary of State for Agriculture, Rui Martinho, participated in the 1st Forum of the BioRegion of Alto Tâmega e Barroso – Road to Sustainability, which took place on September 14th. An initiative of the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega e Barroso (CIMAT) which had as its main theme the sustainable development and valorization of the organic products of the region.
This 1st Bio Forum started with a lunch at the Boticas Multipurpose Pavilion, prepared by the students from the cookery course of the Professional School of Chaves (EPC), with totally organic products, following afterward to the Boticas Park – Nature and Biodiversity (BNB) where the Mayor of Boticas, Fernando Queiroga, was the host.
In his opening speech, Fernando Queiroga mentioned that “this kind of initiatives are fundamental to encourage local farmers to develop their agricultural activity through the bet on organic production”, adding that “for that to happen it is also important that the Government values the inland territories of the country, namely the Alto Tâmega and Barroso region, the latter classified as World Agricultural Heritage in 2018”.
The opening panel also included the President of CIMAT, Amilcar Almeida, and the Regional Director of Agriculture and Fisheries of the North (DRAPN), Carla Alves.
Amilcar Almeida, took the opportunity to highlight the latest action developed under the BioRegion, the “Bio Corner”, which was “inaugurated in the municipal market of Chaves, on August 24, a space to differentiate the Bioproducts of the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tâmega and Barroso” that emerged “given the great demand for these products, which admittedly have more benefits for health and sustainability of the territories” and that now “weekly hosts a showcase of certified products in organic production mode”.
The First Secretary of CIMAT, Ramiro Gonçalves, was responsible for presenting the memorandum of the Bio Região Alto Tâmega e Barroso and confessed that “it will be a project that will move more or less quickly, but that will always move. It can be leveraged very quickly if we have the opportunity to access community funds so that it is fast, otherwise, this project will move, but with less speed. There is a vision, and our vision has always been based on this assumption: see in the difficulties, and opportunities, think the other way around and take what we already have endogenously”.
The closing session was attended by the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Rui Martinho said that “the Ministry of Agriculture is aware of the difficulties experienced in organic production, and is working to implement measures that contribute to the sustainable growth of this sector of activity.
Several entities were also present, including the Presidents of the municipalities that constitute CIMAT, the President of AgroBio, Jaime Ferreira, the Rector of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Emídio Gomes, as well as Armindo Jacinto, Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova, which was the first organic region of the country to obtain such certification, followed later by the region of Alto Tâmega and Barroso in 2018.
