Minister of Agriculture in Portugal highlights the contribution of the agrifood sector to the economy
Portugal
Published Jun 19, 2021
Tridge summary
The minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, today highlighted the contribution of the agri-food sector to the Portuguese economy, stressing that its growth made it “very expressive” the rate of coverage of imports by exports. "Today we are able to produce 85% of what we consume, on average, and our coverage rate is very expressive", said the official, at the inauguration ceremony of a nut processing factory in the Évora municipality.
Original content
According to the minister, the rate of coverage of imports by exports (percentage of purchases from abroad that is offset by sales) in 2000 was "around 36%" and last year it reached "practically 69%". “We are on a very positive path to guarantee what we also aspire at the level of Europe”, which is “our strategic autonomy and contribution to territorial cohesion and to combating asymmetries and inequalities”, he said. Praising the Portuguese agribusiness, Maria do Céu Antunes underlined that, in 2020, “certainly the worst year in contemporary history”, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the sector “continued to increase exports by 2.5% and agriculture by 5.5%”. "And, hence, the importance of having instruments that complement and transmit to the sector that the performance and safety of food systems must be leveraged by processes that relate to the introduction of technology, the so-called digitization, but also to more ecological and greener”, he pointed out. Among other support, the ...
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