The PolRura Project was coordinated by cE3c – Faculty of Sciences – University of Lisbon, with the participation of AALA (Farmers’ Association of Alentejo Litoral) and scientific advice from the Center for Functional Ecology – University of Coimbra.

It intended to make the assessment of the way in which the PDR 2020 was disseminated and the degree and quality of inherent understanding and use, by different entities (agriculture related) and potential beneficiaries. To this end, the team initially selected production systems specific to the Mediterranean; and, in a second moment, focused its attention on the architecture of the PDR2020 and other planning instruments and the interaction that farmers and consultants demonstrate with them.

The analysis made of the collected information (with particular emphasis on that obtained in interviews with farmers, consultants, and others) resulted in a set of themes and questions that will shape the future, when implementing the next Rural and Agricultural Development Program. Among them, there are the water, the access to land, the rejuvenation of agricultural entrepreneurs, the complexity of the structure of the Programs and the way of accessing them and the type of financial incentives that can be highlighted – these are just some of the themes that will have, certainly, a decisive weight in the national agricultural and rural panorama. In this Report, clues are left for future analyses, which this team would like to undertake or in which it would like to collaborate, using an independent and realistic approach.