Dairy industry

Butter has long been made in Madeira, but at first the way it was prepared was quite rudimentary. Milk, which was scarce, was almost always left standing in the vessels until enough cream had accumulated to bring about the coagulation of the butterfat. This, together with a lack of cleanliness and ignorance of the proper method of salting, meant that the product was generally of poor quality.

In any case, as early as 1870 some butter was being made in Madeira that rivalled the butter imported from abroad, which was usually sold in Funchal at 300 réis (old Portuguese money of account; 1$000 = 1,000 réis, 1:000$000 = one conto = 1,000,000 réis) a libra (Portuguese pound, c. 459 g). The price of second-quality butter ranged between 180 and 240 réis a libra (459 grams). At the beginning of the second quarter of the 19th century almost all the butter consumed in Funchal came from England, but forty years later the island was already producing all the butter it needed and could even export some to Lisbon. Butter exports, which in 1881 amounted to only 129 kilograms, rose to 1932 kilograms in 1885, 9 897 in 1887, 25,554 in 1889 and 42,476 in 1890. In the following two years they fell to 1775 and 2,580 kilograms, before rising again in 1893 to 48,124.

Around 1895 Adolfo Burnay set up a dairy-products factory at Santo António da Serra (‘St Anthony of the uplands’). It began rather modestly, using only the milk produced by his own cows, but it later widened the scope of its operations, buying all the milk that the local cattle breeders could supply and paying 20 réis a litre for it.

The breeders were entitled to keep the whey, which was a great advantage to them: thanks to the rapid skimming processes, this product had no time to ferment and could therefore be used as food for people.

Besides excellent butter, which was sold on the island and exported to Lisbon, the Santo da Serra (‘the saint of the uplands’) factory also produced cheeses, but these met with little favour because they were made with little care. Only many years later was this latter industry able to improve and achieve a certain growth in Madeira, thanks to the studies and experiments of the agronomist João da Mota Prego.

In 1920 there were 22 factories and some thirty-odd skimming stations scattered across the island, paying about 600 contos (1 conto = 1,000,000 réis, from 1911 1,000 escudos) for the 11 to 12 million litres of milk bought each year from farmers. The price of milk, formerly 2 centavos a litre, was fixed in 1919 at 5 centavos and, more recently, on 4 January 1921, at 10 centavos for butter making and 14 centavos for cheese making.

In 1920 Madeira exported about 450,000 kilograms of butter to mainland Portugal and Africa, while local consumption was about 110,000 kilograms. The price of butter at the Funchal depot, which was at first 72 and 80 centavos, rose to 1.20 escudos (the Portuguese currency from 1911: 1 escudo = 100 centavos = 1,000 réis) in December 1919, under a ministerial order (portaria) requested by the exporters, then to 3.00 escudos in September 1920 and to 4.00 escudos in November 1921. Yet consumers are often unable to obtain this staple there, because the exporters do not always keep properly supplied the only establishment where the public can buy it on favourable terms.

Since on average 23 litres of milk are needed to make one kilogram of butter, it is clear that the dealers’ profit lies mainly in exports, as butter fetches far higher prices in Lisbon and Africa than in Funchal. Butter intended for industrial use, on which part of the population of Funchal nevertheless sometimes relies, is sold (1921) at 8.00 escudos a kilogram, having previously been sold at 7.00, 5.00, 4.80 and 1.80 escudos. This last price remained in force until August 1920.

Under an undertaking signed very recently (1921) by the representatives of several butter factories, the depot was to be supplied daily with 400 kilograms of butter, that is, 2,800 kilograms a week, to be sold to the public at 4.00 escudos. Before going on sale the butter was to be examined by the deputy health officer (sub-delegado de saúde), and the manufacturers kept the right to sell privately, at whatever price they set, any butter in excess of the quantities they were required to supply to the depot.

No one who was not a supplier of the depot was allowed to sell butter at more than 4.00 escudos a kilogram. Manufacturers who broke the terms of the agreement by failing to deliver to the depot the quantities apportioned to them were barred from obtaining permission to export any butter until they proved that their deliveries were up to date.

Before the agreement to which we refer, manufacturers were obliged to supply 10 per cent of the butter they exported for public consumption in Funchal. At the end of 1919 there were ten factories required to contribute 40 per cent of their output to the depot, under an apportionment made by the Municipal Administration (Administração do Concelho, the government's local civil office).

As the manufacturers were as a rule far from punctual in sending the required quantities of butter to the depot beside the Market, the public was often unable to obtain this staple at the prices set in the agreement and had to buy it at exorbitant prices from a private depot in Rua Direita (‘straight street’). If the authorities had always exercised strict supervision over the supply of butter, instead of resorting to the so-called bicas (queues), which served only to drive away many consumers and to protect the manufacturers, a good many abuses would have been avoided, and order would have been brought to a service which, though it has improved lately, is still very far from meeting the needs of the public.

What has been said above about the dairy industry goes no further than the year 1921. After that date the industry continued to make considerable progress and to develop, and it is a significant factor in the public wealth of this archipelago. Various legislative instruments were enacted to promote its prosperity. The most notable of these are the decree of 4 June 1936, which created the National Dairy Board of Madeira (Junta Nacional de Lacticínios da Madeira), and the decrees of 22 September and 24 November 1938 and of 24 November 1939, which regulate the workings of this Board.

A considerable part of the rural population did not willingly accept the provisions of these decrees, which it judged to be an attack on its legitimate interests. It pressed its protests to the point of committing the gravest excesses, invading public offices and perpetrating other deplorable acts of disorder. Armed forces sent from the mainland had to intervene, and some of the local people lost their lives. Countless arrests were made, and many individuals suffered the penalty of exile to the Azores and Cape Verde.

Today everyone recognises the advantages of the legislative measures that were adopted, and the successive boards of the National Dairy Board have fully discharged the thorny task entrusted to them. Its Boletins de Informação e Publicidade are valuable documents that deserve careful reading by all who take an interest in these matters.