" The food chain is holding up, there will be no shortage in France, " said Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume on Wednesday in response to concerns about the slowdown in agricultural activities caused by the containment in force in the country since March 17 to curb the coronavirus epidemic.
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During the report of the Council of Ministers, Didier Guillaume specified that a recruitment platform set up on the Internet by the Ministries of Agriculture and the Economy and Pôle Emploi, intended for volunteers wishing to come and work with farmers near their homes had already collected more than 240,000 registrants.
“ Pôle Emploi will try to direct them - there have already been 5,000 farms which have hired some of our fellow citizens - (...) very close to home, on a short circuit, to do this work and (ensure) continuity of the food chain, "said the minister.
Didier Guillaume had launched a call at the end of March to people who were no longer active due to the coronavirus epidemic to join " the great army of French agriculture ". The French agricultural sector estimated that it needed around 200,000 seasonal workers to replace foreigners who usually came to participate in the harvest but were blocked because of the confinement.
Didier Guillaume, however, noted " difficulties in production ", " immense " for the fishing sector which lost 50% of its activity with the closure of restaurants and the cessation of exports. He also noted that the fruit and vegetable sector was facing overproduction problems.
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At his side, the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire assured that everyone was mobilized to ensure that " everyone can find on the shelves the products they need ". Food prices are stable, observed Bruno Le Maire, citing a 0.01% increase in prices in March excluding traditional fresh products. (Henri-Pierre André and Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Marine Pennetier)
