Porto de Mós, Portugal, April 17, 2026 (Lusa) – The Portuguese government will invest €30 million per year to support shepherds and their flocks that help reduce forest fire risks, the ministers of agriculture and environment announced on Friday.
Agriculture Minister José Manuel Fernandes and Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho were visiting the only active flock in Porto de Mós, in the central Leiria region, to present the Fuel Load Reduction Support Programme through Extensive Grazing.
The government aims to encourage new shepherds with a start-up grant of €30,000 over five years, he said. The programme provides aid for "acquiring animals, with a premium for indigenous breeds, and transforming scrubland into pasture."
Support for new flocks will be paid in instalments, with €8,400 in the first three years and €2,400 in the last two, said José Manuel Fernandes. "The Environment Fund finances this €30 million annual programme, which will run for five years, totalling €150 million," he said.
Maria da Graça Carvalho said that grazing "was a tool used in the past to prevent forest fires". "We have fewer and fewer shepherds, and we want to reverse that. We want to attract young shepherds, increase the number of animals and shepherds, and therefore we need to promote this profession," she said while overlooking the flock grazing amidst the rosemary, oregano and other aromatic herbs.
She said that "the existence of animals and this profession [shepherding] is a very good tool to reduce the fuel load and, therefore, decrease the fire risk."
The announced measure also seeks to combat desertification, protect the landscape and the environment, and contribute to biodiversity, aiming to provide greater cohesion and boost the economy of these regions.
"In a single programme we achieve several goals, which are government objectives," she said.
Fernandes highlighted the merits of the initiative. He said that, starting with the primary goal of preventing and reducing forest fires, the programme contributes to "competitiveness, territorial cohesion, and sustainability, all in one programme."
Regarding access to the Fuel Load Reduction Support Programme through Extensive Grazing, Carvalho promised a "simple process". "We have simplified it a lot" because "we inherited complex programmes," she added.
The Climate Agency and IFAP (Institute for the Financing of Agriculture and Fisheries) designed the programme. According to the minister, it belongs to a "new generation of programmes that are much simpler, much faster to evaluate, and much faster to pay".
Although the Environmental Fund finances the project, the government will transfer the funds to IFAP. "Since it has a database, the payment process is much faster," she said.
MLE/RYOL // AYLS
Lusa
