António Ventura marks World Soil Day
Angra do Heroísmo
Secretaria Regional da Agricultura e Alimentação
On World Soil Day, we celebrate today "an essential resource that is often ignored but truly sustains life," highlighted António Ventura, Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Food.
"In the Azores, where our economy, culture and landscapes are deeply entwined with the land, it is crucial to recognise the importance of soil quality and the need to preserve it," he continued.
The quality of Azorean soils "is especially relevant to the agricultural sector," he added.
He explained: "The fertility of our volcanic lands provides us with products of excellence recognised nationally and internationally. It sustains traditional agricultural practices that have been wisely adapted to the conditions of our archipelago over the centuries. However, this wealth depends on preserving the quality of our soils, a finite and exhaustible resource."
Soil preservation is a concern of the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Food which, in conjunction with the Azores Agricultural Federation, promotes public policies for good soil health, namely in the collection and provision of technical advice on soil samples from Azorean pastures.
In this context, the XIV Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores maintains a strategy for Azorean agriculture based on a vision of the future and a more sustainable agriculture. This is in line with the goals of promoting self-sufficiency in animal feed, reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers and antimicrobial agents, promoting the biological diversity of plant and animal genetic resources, conserving soil and water resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon sequestration.
As part of integrated land use management, an online platform was developed in 2023 (GUSSA Platform - Management of the Sustainable Use of Soils in the Azores). It provides real-time monitoring and systematised processes for collecting, dispatching, processing and analysing soil samples.
The Regional Secretariat opened an international public tender for the procurement of "Services for the Assessment and Diagnosis of the Fertility of Agricultural Soils in the Azores" for three yeard, 2023-2025. Once this tender procedure was completed, the service was awarded to the winning tenderer, the Gaspar Frutuoso Foundation, which has been providing this service since February 2023.
This initiative has provided producers with better advice on adapting fertilisation methods to the realities of their farms, thus avoiding incorrect fertilisation that causes unnecessary agri-environmental and financial damage.
As of today, 3,858 samples have been collected, with 3206 being analysed. So far, this service represents an investment of about 140 thousand Euros, which will increase to 295 thousand Euros by the end of 2025, excluding VAT.
"Today, on World Soil Day, the call is clear: we need to take care of the soil like we take care of our health. As political decision-makers, farmers, experts and citizens, our mission is to protect this resource. In the Azores, land is more than soil: it is our heritage, livelihood and future. May we play our part in preserving our land to ensure forthcoming generations the chance to continue looking after this heritage. We want soil that can be an endogenous intergenerational asset. In other words, we must pass on the soil with the same capacity to produce as we received it," concluded António Ventura.
