“Many rural roads that cross farmsare completely unusable, due to the constant presence of heavy machinery”, the movement said, in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.

This creates “serious constraints oreven total impediments to the use” of the roads “by the populations living in rural areas”, who are “in this way are even more penalised”, they said.

“Urgent measures are needed to put the brakes on these situations,” they argue, demanding “the restoration and conservation” of the affected roads, which “are sometimes the only way to access some dwellings or sites of interest.

As an “example” of what “is happening all over the Alentejo”, the movement points to the case of the destruction of a rural road near the village of Penedo Gordo and the visitable archaeological site of the Roman “villa” of Pisões, in the municipality of Beja.

The movement states that its members were at the site and were also able to “observe the carrying out of spraying on land occupied with a peanut culture, without any warning, even near the fence” of the Roman “villa” of Pisões, “making it impossible to stay at the site”.

Contacted by Lusa, the vice-president of Beja City Council, Luís Miranda, said that the municipality will “analyse the situation” of the rural road located in the municipality denounced by the movement.

The Chão Nosso Movement was created “in defence of the culture, heritage and biodiversity of the Alentejo”, by a group of residents in the region who are concerned about the changes that have taken place in the landscape in recent decades due to intensive agriculture.