Portuguese authorities just
established their first agriculture biotechnology-free zone.
The Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development
and Fisheries reportedly claims that the biotechnology-free
declaration is the first of its kind in Europe in that it is
based on an European Union-approved national legislation.
Farmers in the zone produce mostly citrus so the declaration
appears to be more symbolic, possibly an enticement by the
local authorities to bring in more Northern tourists.
The Lagos municipality
recently completed all legal requirements to become the
first biotechnology-free zone in Portugal, subsequent the
established procedures of the Government of Portugal (GOP)
for declaring this status. The Algarve Regional Directorate
of Agriculture and Fisheries verified that all Lagos
municipality farmers supported the request. As noted in GAIN
PO7007, all farmers in a region/county must support the
biotechnologyfree declaration for it to be fully recognized,
and if a farmer in the municipality decides to use
biotechnology, the GOP will revoke the biotechnology-free
status.
Portugal is
now the first European Union (EU) Member State to establish
a procedure to recognize a biotechnology-free zone via
national legislation that the European Commission (EC) has
given the green light. Other EU Member States or regions
thereof have declared themselves biotechnology-free, but
without establishing EC approved laws under which they can
administer the biotechnology-free zones.
According to the National
Institute of Statistics (INE), Portuguese farmers produced
approximately 4,300 hectares of biotechnology corn in this
year, up from about 1,400 in 2006. Farmers in the Algarve
region, and even less the Lagos municipality, produce an
insignificant amount of corn. They mainly produce citrus,
but are more-and-more abandoning traditional farming for
tourism and eco-tourism related activities.
The Daily Republic (Diário da
República) published the biotechnology-free status on
November 5, 2007. The Lagos municipality will need to renew
the application in five years or lose the accreditation. The
Algarve Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries
also posted this status in Article No. 25306 (No. 5
306/2007) on November 5, 2007. The Lagos municipal requested
this biotechnology-free status on September 4, 2006.
