Only half of the fruits and two-thirds of vegetables sold in Portugal’s supermarkets are produced in the country, according to survey results published by the environmental association, Zero.
The in-depth analysis relied on analysis of the origin of vegetables and fruits and concluding that many of the products sourced from abroad could be produced in Portugal.
The environmental association that the survey involved looking at the stock held in 94 supermarkets in 24 municipalities in mainland Portugal and Madeira.
It was found that about 65% of vegetables and 50% of the fruits are from Portugal.
While recognizing the incentive for horticulturalists, Zero believes that much remains to be done to "favour domestic production," particularly for high consumption products such as tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, onions and potatoes where less than 50% came from Portugal.
As for the 13 types of fruit on supermarket shelves, only strawberries and blackberries were all grown in Portugal.
As for lemons (24% national origin) and grapes (23% national origin) the abundance of imported fruit could not easily be explained, since they came from neighbouring countries with similar climates, such as Spain and Morocco.
Similarly, pineapples produced in the Açores (25%) and bananas (27) from plantations in Madeira are not getting the distribution they could.
"Creating positive discrimination for local agriculture" and making people aware of local and seasonal preferences are some of the proposals outlined by the association, as well as "gradually eliminating all public support for animal and intensive plant production" while directing any funds to organic production.
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The survey was undertaken in Continente, Lidl, Pingo Doce, Intermarché, Jumbo, Aldi, El Corte Inglés, E-Leclerc, Miosotis, Supercor and Spar.
