“Farmers from the Algarve, […] will meet at 09:00 am [on Friday 8 March] at the Boliqueime football field and will move slowly, with tractors and vehicles linked to agriculture, vans and trucks, during the morning, between Boliqueime and Almancil”, the president of the Association of Irrigators of Sotavento, in the east of the Algarve, told Lusa.

Macário Correia added that at 12:00 pm, a representation of farmers will go to the Algarve Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR), in Faro, to deliver a document with “urgent demands” about the problems linked to the lack of water and to the “reorganisation” of the Ministry of Agriculture.

The slow march is organised by the recently created Commission for Hydroagricultural Sustainability of the Algarve (CSHA), which claims to bring together more than 1,000 Algarve entities and farmers, namely, all associations in the region linked to agriculture, livestock, forestry, flowers and ornamental plants, among others, according to Macário Correia.

In a statement, CSHA states that among the demands to be delivered to the Algarve CCDR and the next Government, is the urgent request to increase water storage capacity, as well as the implementation of equitable cuts in water use and the restructuring of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the reinstallation of the regional Agriculture and Fisheries directorates.

The new association, formed last January, following the Government's announcement that the region would have water cuts, thus announces the mobilisation of farmers for “a large street protest”, carried out in the form of a slow march on the EN 125, between 09:00 and 14:00, between the Maritenda and Quatro Estradas roundabouts.

The commission calls for “equitable cuts” in water use, recalls the suspension of new investments in this area, suggests an information campaign among the population, the updating of underground abstraction titles, and contests the “insufficiency” of support presented by the Government.

On the other hand, he reinforces that despite the rainfall in recent weeks exceeding the Government's estimates, “all the volume allocated higher than estimated should be directed to alleviate the cuts imposed on agriculture”.

They also demand the restructuring of the Ministry of Agriculture, and that this allows for “less bureaucratic burden and fiscal pressure”, defending the “re-installation” of the regional Agriculture and Fisheries directorates.

The Algarve is currently on alert due to drought, which led the Government to adopt measures to restrict consumption, such as reductions of 15% in the urban cycle, including tourism, or 25% in agriculture.

There are several projects planned to increase water availability in the region, including the construction of a desalination plant, the capture of water from the Guadiana River from Pomarão or the construction of a dam on the Foupana River.