On 29 April, AguiarFloresta was invited to receive the first technical visits from the PAISACTIVO project, a consortium made up of the partners CIM do Tâmega e Sousa, the General Department of Territory, the Municipality of Baião and the Juana de Vega Foundation, who were present for the visit.
With a busy day divided up with visits to various livestock and forestry projects in the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, the delegation gathered at the Casa da Pecuária interpretive centre, where they were welcomed by coordinator Duarte Marques, project manager Henrique Mira Godinho and the host of the Cabanes community, Maronesa breeder António Manuel. As well as presenting the Casa da Pecuária project, the three introduced the various dynamics of the Vila Pouca de Aguiar municipality linked to livestock and pastoralism, the main challenges facing the region and the players and partners in the various rural and environmental development initiatives in the municipality and in adjacent Ribeira de Pena, Vila Real and Mondim de Basto municipalities.
To round off the morning, the participants had the opportunity to meet the main herd of Casal da Bouça at the top of the Souto e Outeiro common land and breeder Tommy Ferreira. The LIFE Maronesa project was presented in detail, along with the various types of project actions and the commercialisation model established through the creation of the CLIMA+ brand, both in the Alvão region of Trás-os-Montes and in Cinfães with the Arouquesa breeders and in Ponte Lima with NaturalMinho.
The delegation heard the farmer from Casal da Bouça explain how he manages his herd on the mountain, from sanitation to the calving of his cows, as well as the essential work of managing the hay meadows, an essential part of his farm.
In the afternoon, after a demonstration of new resin techniques in Tresminas, the delegation ended its visit in Alfarela de Jales, where AguiarFloresta technician João Oliveira explained to the participants the impact of many of the good practices of the LIFE Maronesa project on the management of the Jales AIGP and how AguiarFloresta has adapted and managed this OIGP autonomously with the landowners and the common lands of the Jales plateau region.
