Arganil, Coimbra, Portugal, Sept. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Minister for Agriculture and the Sea on Wednesday called for the implementation of several pilot projects in the area of extensive pasture grazing in the northern and central regions of the country hit by this summer's wildfires.
On a visit to burnt areas in the Serra do Açor, in the districts of Oliveira do Hospital and Arganil (Coimbra region), where the biggest ever national fire broke out, José Manuel Fernandes was convinced that extensive herding and grazing is one of the solutions for preventing fires.
"Extensive grazing is one of the solutions and it will help a lot, but it won't be the only solution to resolve this issue," said the minister, who intends to use an allocation of €30 million from the Environmental Fund for grazing projects.
In addition to prevention, the Minister of Agriculture believes that herding and grazing can create a value chain, with various products - such as meat, milk and cheese - and help territorial cohesion.
He also told journalists that he intended to increase investment in prevention, invest in controlled fires to create protection zones and fire breaks and change property legislation so that local councils can clear land of waste and dry vegetation when it is not possible to notify owners.
With these measures and the Forest Intervention Plan 2025-2050, the minister believes it is possible to mitigate and significantly reduce forest fires, which year after year consume the Portuguese forest.
The Minister of Agriculture also stressed the importance of integrated landscape management operations in defence against fires, noting that 62 are currently underway, with an investment of €66 million.
José Manuel Fernandes also highlighted the protection created around villages, with the Village Condominiums project, which went from 321 to 822 (not all of which have been completed).
The minister also said that support of up to €10,000 for those affected by this year's fires has already started to be paid out and that, in the north, 170 applications have already been analysed out of almost 600 received so far.
Confronted with the lack of payment of aid from 2024, the minister explained that this is for aid above €10,000 and that there is some bureaucracy associated with it that needs to be overcome.
Acknowledging that a year's delay "is a long time to wait", José Manuel Fernandes pointed to the transition from the Rural Development Programme (PDR) to the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan (PEPAC), which only allows payments at the beginning of each year, as one of the causes.
"This support takes longer, but everyone will receive it, let there be no doubt about that," emphasised the minister, guaranteeing that the 2024 support of up to €10,000 has all been paid out.
This summer's biggest ever fire, which broke out in the Piódão area, in the Serra do Açor, on the 13th, consumed around 11,800 hectares in the district of Arganil, corresponding to almost 40% of its total area.
The fire also affected the districts of Pampilhosa da Serra and Oliveira do Hospital (Coimbra region), Seia (Guarda) and Castelo Branco, Fundão and Covilhã (Castelo Branco).
It is also the largest area ever burnt in Portugal, with 64,000 hectares consumed, according to the provisional report from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).
AMV/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
