Monchique City Council will grant support of up to 500 euros to small farmers in the municipality who suffered damage from last Saturday's fire. The extraordinary support was approved at the Chamber meeting this Tuesday, by proposal of the president of the autarchy.
In statements to the Sul Informação, the mayor Rui André explained that, after the meeting that, on Monday, took place at the Autódromo do Algarve, with the presence of about two dozen people affected by the fire, as well as mayors, technicians and the regional director of Agriculture in the Algarve, «I was sure that we will have more of the same, that is, the injured will have to go through very bureaucratic processes, as happened with the fires of 2018. They will have to relive it all, with complicated applications, with rules that are difficult to comply with, especially for older owners».
Hence, for those who suffered smaller damages, "such as burning irrigation pipes, an irrigation engine, a fence for animals, a smaller tool or machine, we decided to create this emergency support", which the injured can now use apply, together with the Chamber, in a simple way.
Following the fire that broke out this Saturday in Monchique and spread to the neighboring municipality of Portimão, there was a total burned area of 2134 hectares. In the mountain council, 656 hectares were burned, mostly wooded areas (271 ha), but also area of production forest (eucalyptus (163 ha), cork oak (130 ha) and stone pine (25 ha). agricultural, especially on small farms, affected.
In the meantime, teams from the Municipality of Monchique have already carried out a first survey of the damage, which included 33 hectares destined for pastures and around 30 hectares of agricultural land and orchards. In all, according to Rui André, in his county there will be around fifty victims, half of which will be able to resort to the extraordinary support that the local authority will give them.
The Government announced that it is already possible for these farmers who suffered losses to report them to DRAP Algarve, “in order to assess the possibility of triggering any support”.
However, stresses the mayor, the support measures in this area are aimed more at larger forest producers, so that, for small farmers, the excess of bureaucracy can lead to many of them not even bothering to apply. . This is what happened in 2018, when many of the affected people, despite having submitted their candidacies with the support of the Municipality, "ended up giving up during a real bureaucratic ordeal that, from the outset, immediately excluded the lowest losses" .
Hence, the Municipality of Monchique decided to "create a simplified mechanism to support these victims of the municipality, so that they can quickly recover from the damage caused by this fire".
The support to be given by the Emergency Fund does not involve the direct delivery of money, but the delivery of materials to replace what was destroyed by the flames.
Thus, up to a maximum amount of 500 euros and upon presentation of the damages, after being validated by the Municipality, «the necessary material will be made available immediately in the Agricultural Cooperative or in other commercial spaces in the municipality, and it may be collected by the injured parties, who have a maximum period of 30 days for its installation'.
In total, the local authority estimates to spend close to 12.500 euros on this emergency support, "we can increase this amount, if necessary".
This support, explains Rui André, "does not exclude the possibility of future applications that these same farmers can make for other losses and of greater value".
With regard to forest damage, the Municipality says it expects “the publication of guidelines/support measures, both in terms of Emergency Stabilization, and the removal of burned wood and rehabilitation of these productive areas”.
The mayor also added that, at the meeting with the owners, the interest in «defining an integrated management plan for that burned area was suggested, through the creation of an AIGP – Integrated Area for Landscape Management, in order to take advantage of this opportunity to optimize production, enhance and re-qualify the land now affected, as well as the existing water line and its riparian galleries».
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