Avocado ‘overlords’ are living up to their name in the Algarve.
Despite reportedly facing ‘millions of euros in fines’ for flouting planning laws and planting hundreds more avocado trees than they are entitled, Silves-based company Frutineves is ‘carrying on regardless’: seemingly refusing to do anything it has been ordered to do (click here), and continue to pump up precious water from local aquifers every day.
Civic movement Regenerarte, which has been spearheading the local fight to pull Frutineves into line, is now once again having to resort to legal channels to force the issue.
A crowdfunding appeal is underway.
Regenerarte is essentially a band of concerned citizens with nothing but ‘right on their side’ to play with (click here).
Said one of the organisers: “We need financial support. Every euro of our crowdfunding appeal is going on this. It would be awesome if you could mention that”.
And so this text is to mention the crowdfunding appeal necessary to ensure that a company ordered by law to do something actually does it. The appeal can be found here
How can situations like this continue to happen in Portugal? That perhaps is the question of the day.
Meantime, this battle has taken years to get to the point that government authorities actually listened to campaigners (click here).
The turning point was helped massively by nationally-acclaimed writer and journalist Miguel Sousa Tavares who wrote a text in Expresso that ‘said it all’ (click here).
But even that level of exposure has somehow been allowed to ‘lose traction’.
The Resident has attempted to contact Frutineves repeatedly. They are not answering their phone.
