activity the integration level is very weak. In Esposende, a medium periurban town, the
non-farm business purchase local integration level is moderate.
The local integration is stronger forwards than backwards.
The sectoral analysis in each town shows the local integration level of the different
economic activities for every study area. Another aspect that should be emphasized is
the weight each sector has on the purchase and sales total volume. The share of the total
purchases and sales is mostly a decisive factor as far as the local integration behaviour
of all the business firms in a certain town is concerned. We may refer as an example the
cases of construction business firms in Tavira and Esposende and transports and
communications in Lixa.
The sustainability of likely rural development policies should not ignore the specificity
of each town and each economic activity sector. The dichotomy and antagonism
between country and city must be replaced by a new and real cooperation leading to
partnerships among equals. It is high time politicians with responsibility at the decision
level stopped looking at the rural world in a perspective of dependency and inferiority,
as it happened in the last century. If it is not possible to adapt homogeneous measures to
different development speeds both in economic and especially human terms at a
national level, very hardly would it be so within the European Union.
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