Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

I warmly greet the participants of the National Maize Conference, a testimonial of the existing drive in such an important sector for Portuguese agriculture.

Maize presents itself, more than ever, as an agricultural strategic sector in the Portuguese economy, at a time when the development of our agriculture and the balance of external trade are clearly accepted as national objectives.

Maize is the arable crop which involves the greater number of agricultural holdings, representing some 80% of cereal production in Portugal. It is, otherwise, a culture which has a particular transversal effect in the Country’s economy. Maize, as a fundamental component in animal rations, is included in the production lines of milk and meat products, conditions the respective production costs, and is as such decisive in terms of the competitiveness and sustainability of those sectors.

The relevance of the maize sector thus arises reinforced due to the fact that Portugal is traditionally deficient in this culture. We need more than we produce and we produce less than we import. It is as such commanding that we view the investment in production with greater regard.

Increase in production is in effect the greater challenge faced by the maize sector. It is evident that there are relevant factors that cannot be underestimated. This is the case, for instance, of the high volatility in cereal prices, aggravated both by the speculation it evokes as a commodity, and by the unforeseeable fluctuation in the volume of production of the large worldwide producers, especially due to climatic conditions.

If, relative to these issues, we cannot apply any direct action, we can however do so in the case of national production. Results obtained in latter years provide us with good reasons to proceed and strengthen the work that has until now been achieved.

Portugal has been able to take the best possible advantages from the favourable climatic and soil conditions to increase its maize production. Production values per hectare have already been reached that place us amongst the countries with higher productivity indices. What is now important is that we increase the production area taking advantage of the available irrigation, as in the case of the Alqueva region, as anyway has been happening. Maize is the second largest culture here and the Alqueva maize production area is already the third largest in the country. Good water management, in environmental and economic terms, will certainly positively influence the growth in production.

It is also necessary, at this level, to take advantage from community funds, adapting our conditionality of 30 per cent of direct aid for environmental areas to the different agricultural areas, and implementing a Rural Development programme suited to the potentialities of each of them.

We have been witnessing a growth in Portuguese agriculture: in production, in value and in volume of exports. The balance of our external trade in food products in 2020 is an ambitious but not impossible target.

We have, in effect, recorded a notable modernization of our units in the agro-foodstuffs sectors, throughout the whole productive process, as well as in the transforming segment attached to it. It is important that this trend is kept up and strengthened.

We have also been viewing, in parallel, the social valuation and the professional dignifying of the workers in the agro-foodstuffs sector. Specialized training and the
captivation of young people with advanced technical knowledge and enterprising spirit have contributed towards the presentation of innovative products and the capture of new markets.

Restoring and rejuvenating national agriculture will bring value to ruralism, visible in land occupation, in the preservation of the rural landscape, in the development of multifunctional agriculture and in the social and economic dynamics of the interior, thus contributing to the Country’s territorial cohesion.

Our farmers as active agents in the recovery of the national economy are due the respect and appreciation of all the Portuguese.

The consolidation of a new stage in the progress of Portuguese agriculture demands that environmental, economic and social sustainability is ensured: social, in support policies to the settlement of people in rural areas; economic, in the support and framework policies for agricultural production; environmental, in the incentive policies towards good management of natural resources.

Producers have already shown they can do so with good results. The production line has already shown it is able to innovate technologically and to define and implement the correct strategies to achieve its objectives.

The maize sector, which brings us here today, has known how to invest in knowledge and innovation through the implementation of test fields, but also in the improvement of geographic information and irrigation management systems, in the use of self-regulating implements and in the control of video aided development of cultures, amongst many other scientific and technological advanced processes.

Producers’ organizations also perform a relevant role in the professional and enterprising management of the respective sectors. They are determining in the reduction of production costs, in the adaptation of supply and demand, in price formation, in the conquering of new markets. Agromis is, certainly, a fair example.

Difficulties and constraints will always exist. Success lies in converting difficulties into challenges, challenges into goals, and goals into achievements. And this is exactly what the maize sector has been doing. This Conference should bring an added impetus to the capability for national self-provisioning in maize production.

I wish you all excellent work and the best possible prosperity.

Thank you.