Government recognizes fires as natural catastrophe and releases 10 million euros

The Diário da República publishes this Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Order no. 13489/2026, from the Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Sea, which officially recognizes as a natural disaster the set of rural fires that occurred between May 1 and October 15, 2026, in various municipalities and parishes of mainland Portugal. The decree, signed by José Manuel Fernandes on October 29, opens access to support for typology C.4.1.3 — “Restoration of productive potential” — of intervention C.4.1 — “Risk management” — of the PEPAC in the mainland.

The recognition is made under point b) of article 3 and point a) of paragraph 1 of article 6 of Ordinance no. 240/2025/1, of May 27, which establishes the rules for support for losses caused by adverse climatic phenomena. The order justifies the measure by the scale and severity of the damage: the fires affected “a numerous set of Parishes with serious consequences at the level of the productive potential of several agricultural holdings.”

Support of 10 million euros with brackets per beneficiary

Article 3 of the order sets the total available amount at 10,000,000 euros, granted in the form of a non-reimbursable grant. The levels of support are staggered:

• 100% of eligible expenditure up to 10,000 euros;
• 80% of eligible expenditure above 10,000 euros for beneficiaries with insurance from the Agricultural Insurance System, created by Decree-Law no. 162/2015, of August 14;
• 50% of eligible expenditure above 10,000 euros for the remaining beneficiaries.

Insurance indemnity amounts or other risk management mechanism amounts are deducted from the support to be granted. If eligible applications exceed the allocation, the individual amount will undergo a proportional reduction.

Who can apply and under what conditions

Holdings with damage exceeding 30% of the productive potential and associated investment up to 400,000 euros, located in the parishes listed in the annex to the order, are eligible. Expenses are counted from May 1, 2026, and are subject to verification by the territorially competent Regional Coordination and Development Commission, I. P. (CCDR, I. P.), within a maximum period of 30 days after the end of the submission period.

In chestnut and olive grove crops, interventions that stimulate the development of the affected plants are considered eligible, specifically regeneration pruning, cut protection, phytosanitary treatments, grafting (in the case of chestnut), and fertilization.

Each beneficiary may submit only one application, via the electronic form of the PEPAC in the mainland portal (www.pepacc.pt), during a period to be defined by the managing authority. Those who have already applied to notice PEPAC-C413-006 may apply again, provided they do not present the same investments.

Five regions and an annex with hundreds of parishes

The annex of the order, spanning 21 pages, identifies the covered parishes, organized by CCDR area: North, Center, Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Alentejo, and Algarve. Among the municipalities in the North are, for example, Arcos de Valdevez, Montalegre, Fafe, Amarante, Valpaços, and Vinhais; in the Center, Águeda and Anadia; in Alentejo, Odemira, Mértola, Ourique, Moura, Grândola, and Alcácer do Sal; in the Algarve, Silves, Loulé, and Alcoutim.

The measure follows Order No. 10916/2026, published in September, which had already recognized the fires from July 2 to 7 and from July 28 to August 2, 2026, in the Center and North regions as natural disasters.

The recognition takes effect as of the date of signature and now extends the support mechanism for agricultural holdings to the entire critical period of 2026, allowing producers in the listed parishes to recover lost productive capacity and sustain treasury funds after months of losses.

Source: Diário da República, 2nd series, no. 214, of November 4, 2026, AGRICULTURE AND SEA (official reference: Order No. 13489/2026).