Álvaro Mendonça e Moura criticizes what he considers to be “environmental extremism” that does not accept agriculture and that he would like the entire landscape to be “a leisure place for city dwellers to go once a year”, stressing that dissociation cannot be made between environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The president of the Portuguese Farmers Confederation defended, in an interview with Lusa, that “no one with common sense” today denies the existence of climate change and criticized “environmental extremists” who buy rice from Thailand and mangoes from Brazil.
“Climate change is there, it is not an issue. No one with common sense disputes the existence of climate change, which farmers see every day”, stated Álvaro Mendonça e Moura.
The impact on the agricultural sector is visible, for example, in the harvest, which today takes place a month earlier than a few decades ago. Faced with this problem, the agricultural sector has made a “huge effort” to be more efficient, particularly with regard to the use of water, a condition that it said is necessary for a company to be competitive.
“Farmers not only understand climate change, they are also interested in adapting in order to be more efficient and this is the path they have taken. Probably more than any other sector”, he highlighted.
However, Álvaro Mendonça e Moura noted that “many people in the city” have not yet realized this investment that the agricultural sector has been making over the years.
This adaptation to climate change also involves the introduction of new crops because “it cannot continue to produce in 2024 as in 1960”.
The CAP leader also considered that modernization is also “an opportunity” for agriculture to adapt to what the market wants today. However, Álvaro Mendonça e Moura criticized what he considers to be “environmental extremism” that does not accept agriculture and that he would like the entire landscape to be “a leisure place for city dwellers to go once a year”, stressing that it cannot be done a dissociation between environmental, social and economic sustainability.
“These are the ones who then go to the supermarket to buy rice from Thailand and mango from Brazil, ignoring the carbon footprint and the products used” in these foods, he added.
Thus, the former ambassador lamented “environmental dogmatism”, stressing that the focus must be placed on the production of healthy food, with the lowest possible impact.
Farmers want to bring the population, especially children, to the field to demonstrate the good practices that the sector is already putting into practice today, an effort that will continue to be developed in the coming years. However, Álvaro Mendonça e Moura noted that Europe should not assume global environmental responsibility alone, as it contributes around 7% of greenhouse gas emissions.
“If the United States, China, India and Brazil do not take steps to protect the environment, we can do ‘harakiri’ [ritual de suicídio dos samurais] in relation to our European production, that the global individual environment will not improve”, he concluded.
