Lisbon, March 13, 2025 (Lusa) - Farmers' organisations in the Alentejo welcomed the new support on Thursday approved by the government to deal with the damage caused by bluetongue disease, even though the measures fall short of what is needed.
The government will pay €48 per dead sheep to producers affected by bluetongue disease with losses of less than 30% and has created a subsidised credit line of €5 million to support affected farms.
Speaking to the Latin news agency, Rui Garrido, president of the Federation of Farmers' Associations of the Lower Alentejo (FAABA), argued that this aid was welcome but not enough to cover the losses.
"The minister listened to the farmers" complaints and tried to give more aid to production, but we think it's aid that falls a little short, because a lamb weighing 20 or so kilos can be worth €100 and a sheep twice as much," he stressed.
Diogo Vasconcelos, president of the Association of Young Farmers of the South (AJASUL),fromÉvora, also emphasised that "it's always good to have some support" in the face of the damage caused by the bluetongue,stressing,however, that "it's a bit meagre".
"The €48 is roughly a third of the value of an animal," he said, lamenting that this support doesn't consider animals reported missing.
According to the president of AJASUL, the bodies of many of those who died from the disease were not collected and were reported missing by the producers.
"In any case, we're waiting to see how many animals will be eligible and whether the money will be enough to cover that number," he emphasised, also expressing his optimism that aid will be made available to purchase vaccines.
Regarding the credit line, the FAABA president noted that "a loan is always a debt", but said that if interest is "practically non-existent", it could be of some interest to producers.
Through an ordinance published today in the Diário da República, an "exceptional and temporary support measure is created for sheep keepers who have had income losses of less than 30% and who were not covered by the support granted under Measure 23 “Temporary and exceptional support in response to declared calamities” of the PDR [Rural Development Programme] 2020".
In addition, the decree establishes a credit line with subsidised interest to finance the purchase of sheep breeding animals affected by bluetongue, worth €5 million and with a payment term of five years.
The budget allocated to the support provided for in the two measures is €1.9 million and €600,000 respectively.
According to the decree, which comes into force on Friday, natural or legal persons with sheep affected by the "bluetongue" outbreak who record production losses of less than 30%, to be assessed by the Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary (DGAV), can benefit from compensation for income loss.
The non-refundable support is fixed at €48 per dead sheep. However, if the total value of eligible applications exceeds the budget allocation, the amount to be granted will be reduced proportionally among the beneficiaries.
Producers must have notified the DGAV of the losses to benefit from this support and registered the sheep's death in the National Animal Identification and Registration System between September 5, 2024, and January 16, 2025.
The minister of agriculture and fisheries will establish the conditions and criteria for granting support under the €5 million credit line.
SM/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
