Agriculture in Portugal - History

History

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing employed 17.8 percent of Portugal's labor force but accounted for only 6.2 percent of GDP in 1990. With the principal exception of the alluvial soils of the Tagus River valley and the irrigated sections of the Alentejo, crop yields and animal productivity remained well below those of the other European Community (EC) members. Portugal's agro-food deficit (attributable mainly to grain, oilseed, and meat imports) represented about 2.5 percent of GDP, but its surplus on forestry products (wood, cork, and paper pulp) offset its food deficit.

Portugal's overall agricultural performance was unfavorable when viewed in the context of the country's natural resources and climatic conditions. Agricultural productivity (gross farm output per person employed) was well below that of the other West European countries in 1985, at half of the levels in Greece and Spain and a quarter of the EC average.

A number of factors contributed to Portugal's poor agricultural performance. First, the level of investment in agriculture was traditionally very low. The number of tractors and the quantity of fertilizer used per unit area was one-third the European Community average in the mid-1980s. Second, farms in the north were small and fragmented; half of them were less than one hectare in size, and 86 percent less than five hectares. Third, the collective farms set up in the south after the 1974-75 expropriations due to the leftist military coup of 25 April 1974, proved incapable of modernizing, and their efficiency declined. Fourth, poor productivity was associated with the low level of education of farmers. Finally, distribution channels and economic infrastructure were inadequate in parts of the country. According to government estimates, about 9,000 km2 (2,200,000 acres) of agricultural land were occupied between April 1974 and December 1975 in the name of land reform; about 32% of the occupations were ruled illegal. In January 1976, the government pledged to restore the illegally occupied land to its owners, and in 1977, it promulgated the Land Reform Review Law. Restoration of illegally occupied land began in 1978.

Following its adhesion in 1986 to the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU), Portugal's agriculture, like in other EU member states, has been heavily shaped by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With the reform of CAP, a significant reduction in the number of producers through consolidation (especially in the Norte and Centro regions) resulted in the end of traditional, subsistence-like based agriculture.

In 1998, 28% of the land was considered arable. Of the 26,000 km2 (7 million acres), 74% was cultivated with seasonal crops and 26% was under permanent crops. In 2001, the gross agricultural product accounted for 4% of GDP. Estimates of agriculture production in 1999 included potatoes, 1,150,000 tons; tomatoes, 1,176,000 tons; corn, 1,092,000 tons; wheat, 400,000 tons; olives, 262,000 tons; rice, 159,000 tons; and rye, 52,000 tons. Production of olive oil reached 36,000 tons in 1999. Wine, particularly port and Madeira from the Douro region and the Madeira islands, is an important agricultural export; production totaled 679,000 tons in 1999, down from 1,137,000 tons in 1990. Portugal is the world's seventh-largest producer of wine, although Portugal's wines are mostly unknown internationally apart from port and rosé. Under the influence of EU policies, vineyard areas have been reduced in recent years. In 2001, the value of agricultural products imported by Portugal exceeded that of agricultural exports by $2.56 billion.