At the launch session of the Fundão Cherry 2026 campaign, Miguel Gavinhos offered “a word of solidarity to all producers who lost their production, but also a word of courage” for what the cherry campaign will be like until the end, in mid-July.
“We estimate that production was affected in the municipality of Fundão by about 35%. This was the average production we assessed. Especially with cherries, the production in May was greatly affected,” revealed the president of that municipality in the Castelo Branco district.
The mayor also added that producers in the municipality had their production reduced by about 80%.
“But the average, what we estimate as the impact across different areas of the municipality, was 35% damage,” he reaffirmed.
According to the mayor elected by the PSD, the damage caused by the storms at the beginning of the month represents, “within a framework of €20-odd million that the production in the municipality of Fundão is worth, a loss of €7 million.”
“We have already requested the intervention of the Government and have spoken with regional and local producer entities. We are asking the Ministry [of Agriculture] to guarantee some type of compensation, within what can be covered for this type of damage,” he stressed.
The mayor emphasised that, despite the setbacks caused by the bad weather, the municipality is determined to “raise its arms” and communicate to the country “a strong campaign” to promote Fundão cherries, as has been happening for more than two decades.
“This is a World Cup year. These [promotional] campaigns started at the 2004 European Championship, when the Fundão cherry was ‘the fruit of our national team.’ It is our wish that this fruit can be the fruit of our national team and that it serves as a vitamin supplement so that we also have a great result next June and can achieve the best possible result in the World Cup,” he declared.
The Fundão Cherry IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) is a fruit from the Cova da Beira region, whose production, according to the mayor, accounts for about 65% of the national total.