Lisbon, May 19, 2026 (Lusa) - The Confederation of Portuguese Farmers has demanded a European response to the fertiliser and fuel crisis while denouncing the government’s inaction, saying it puts domestic production at a disadvantage compared to its direct competitors.
The confederation's Secretary-General, Luís Mira, who attended a European farmers demonstration in front of the parliament building in Strasbourg on Tuesday, called for urgent, concrete, and effective support measures for agriculture, warning that the current level of costs severely threatens the economic viability of farms, undermines the competitiveness of European agriculture and puts citizens’ food security at risk.
“It is unacceptable that farmers are forced to compete on a clearly unequal footing within the European market due to the government’s lack of political will to support agriculture," he said.
"While other countries are protecting their production, their farmers and their rural economies, Portugal still lacks a response commensurate with the gravity of the situation," he added, emphasising that the agricultural sector needs answers.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the confederation warned that without urgent and effective measures, the current crisis involving fertilisers, fuel, and energy would inevitably transform into a food crisis, with serious consequences for agricultural production, consumers, and European food sovereignty.
Present in Strasbourg to represent Portuguese farmers in defending national production, sector competitiveness, and fairness among member states, the confederation said that the demonstration also sent a clear signal to the government.
Portugal remains one of the EU countries with the fewest concrete support measures for farmers, which puts domestic production at a disadvantage compared to direct competitors such as Spain, France and Italy, he said.
According to the confederation, these member states have rolled out support packages for the agricultural sector aimed at offsetting rising costs for fuel, fertilisers, and other production inputs.
In contrast, Portuguese farmers continue to face successive announcements and repeated promises, but a total absence of concrete responses from the government capable of mitigating the impact of the crisis on farm incomes.
Copa-Cogeca (the strongest and largest interest group and lobby for farmers) and the main European agricultural organisations organised Tuesday’s protest in Strasbourg under the slogan “Fertiliser and fuel crisis today, food crisis tomorrow”.
At a time when European farmers are facing soaring production costs, particularly the rise in fertiliser and fuel prices, the European agricultural sector has come together to demand support measures, including the suspension of the European tax on fertiliser imports.
Known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), this tariff applies to imported goods based on their carbon emissions, particularly fertilisers.
Tuesday’s protest, which coincided with the European Commission’s presentation of the European Fertiliser Action Plan, was intended to draw attention to the critical situation facing the European agricultural sector, marked by an unprecedented rise in production costs, particularly for fertilisers, fuel and energy.
PD/MYAL // ADB.
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