During the last 10 years, almost 5,000 workers have ceased working in the farming and fishing sectors, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE).
In 2001, the Algarve had 7,974 agricultural employees which fell by 3,874 to 4,100 within a decade. However, a growing number of young people are turning to agriculture to fight the effects of the crisis, and in the last two years more than 300 projects for young farmers were approved.
The number of fishermen in 2001 was around 3,060 but the total dropped to 2,042 by 2011. The Algarve, however, is the region with the third biggest number of workers in this sector.
