Fostering the value of resources and products from the Algarve region is the main objective of the brand «Produto Algarve», which the Association of Commerce and Services of the Region (ACRAL) presented this Friday at the Municipal Market of Faro.
Victor Guerreiro, president of ACRAL, explained that «Algarve Product» takes the form of a certified community brand, which has a «visible face» through a seal created to be applied on certified Algarve products and used by economic agents, also certified.
«The Algarve has excellent products, but they do not have a strong common brand that identifies and distinguishes them. With this brand and the certification associated with it, what we want is, precisely, to add value to endogenous products», said the director of the business association.
This brand is «the most visible face of the “Algarve Positivo” project», also promoted by ACRAL, in partnership with the Algarve Film Commission, and which presents itself as «an initiative that cuts across all sectors of the regional economy», covering «all economic agents and key players in generating added value for the region's economy».
Also present at the presentation of the «Algarve product» brand, Fernando Severino, regional director for Agriculture and Fisheries, pointed out that some of the main land and sea products in the Algarve already have certification: the IGP for medronho spirit is under consultation, but already there is, for example, the PGI Citrinos do Algarve, despite being «very little used», even though «70% of the national citrus production is from the Algarve». There is also the PGI for Sweet Potatoes from Aljezur or the PDO for Sal do Algarve.
Victor Guerreiro: «The Algarve has excellent products, but they do not have a strong common brand that identifies and distinguishes them. With this brand and the certification associated with it, what we want is, precisely, to add value to endogenous products»
Another product that, in the opinion of the regional director, may benefit from certification and the creation of that brand is honey. "Half of the young Algarve farmers who presented investment projects in the last table did so in the honey sector", which allows us to predict that the production of honey in the Algarve will "double in the near future". But until now, most of this production is sold in bulk, without adding value, which can now be achieved with the use of the brand «Produto Algarve».
Adriano Guerra, vice-president of the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission, which manages community funds, stressed, in turn, that the objective of the CCDR is “to bring together and network the region's economic agents. This project is rooted in that».
With the branding and certification of the products, «there is a creation of value and wealth chains for the region. The more value is added and remains in the region, the better", even to "combat this scourge of our region, which is unemployment", added that responsible of the CCDR.
To the president of the Chamber of Faro, the Algarve has the best almonds in the world, the best fig, honey, wine, arbutus, fish or seafood. So what is needed to "affirm these riches?" In the opinion of the mayor Rogério Bacalhau, there is a lack of "organizing the offer", "networking", "marketing work aimed at specific markets" and "enhancement of the brand, duly certified". In other words, what is missing is precisely what the «Algarve Positivo» project and the brand now created want to emphasize.
The task is not a small one, which is why Victor Guerreiro, president of ACRAL, has stressed that the project is already “on the ground creating a network of economic agents, from producers to final distributors”.
The project is co-financed by the Algarve21 Operational Program, at 470 thousand euros, and also involves the creation of an internet portal and a mobile application, which will include regional products, their producers and traditional stores, where they can be acquired.
“We currently have a strong awareness-raising campaign for producers and intermediaries, through clarification sessions, direct contacts, showrooms e workshops which are taking place throughout the Algarve, as is happening today, here in the Municipal Market», he stressed.
The certification model has already been chosen, based on a study developed with recourse to specialized entities and, according to ACRAL, “it ensures a very positive cost/benefit weighting, in which the certification follows precise rules and is audited by an external entity, but whose process has been simplified so that economic agents do not get bogged down in certification processes so complex that they do not pay off”.
Victor Guerreiro: «Joining the Algarve Positivo and the Product Algarve brand is now free for all interested economic agents»
Victor Guerreiro announced that «joining the Algarve Positivo and the Product Algarve brand is now free for all economic agents interested in participating in what will be the largest and most visible means of promoting Algarve products nationally and internationally».
As for the framing of this initiative in the new community framework, under the CRESC Algarve 2020, the CCDR vice-president stressed that "the projects will have to be presented and analyzed", but admitted that "all this is part of the smart specialization strategy in region". “We are ready to continue working with ACRAL and its partners,” added Adriano Guerra.
Despite the initial and crucial phase of the project having been funded by PO Algarve21, Victor Guerreiro explained that, in order for the initiative to “not stay halfway”, it was necessary to “leverage some financial engineering and creative power to get more funds”.
And he told the case of the meeting that the project recently had with the Jerónimo Martins/Pingo Doce Group, which «has the objective of having a sector of regional products». «They loved our project» and may even «finance part in the future», presenting this case as one of the examples of «financial engineering» that it is necessary to resort to in fact implement, in the field, the «Produto Algarve» brand.
"There is at least this large distribution network that is willing to collaborate with us", stressed the president of ACRAL, noting that, despite this, the idea is more about "working with the market and traditional commerce".
The regional director Fernando Severino defended that, «if we have this brand, we can have an embassy of our products that can go around the world». «We have the biggest engine, which is Tourism, which has to enhance our endogenous resources. It is necessary that the “Algarve” brand serves this purpose, to enhance our products».
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