Jean Castex announced on Saturday the release of 60 million euros in emergency aid to the most troubled breeders, who earned less than 11,000 euros in 2020, while encouraging the sector to continue to restructure.
To read also: “He felt alone and isolated”: why 600 farmers commit suicide each year?
"
For all the breeders who earned less than 11,000 euros in 2020 and who suffered significant losses, which represents 18,000 farms, (...) we are going to set up an exceptional financial support system which will cover up to to 80% of operating losses
”, affirmed the Prime Minister at the conclusion of a round table in the Creuse with the representatives of this agricultural sector.
Emergency situation for the livestock sector
"
This means an envelope of 60 million (euros) which will be added to the envelope provided for in the recovery plan (...) of 50 million for the restructuring of the sector, actions that I want to link
", he added.
In the stimulus plan presented in early September, the government provides a total of 1.2 billion for the agriculture and food sector.
“
It's a whole.
There is an emergency, we must respond to it.
But emergency aid will not solve anything
"for the livestock sector,"
these sectors must continue to improve, especially in the meat sector, to be better structured
", insisted Jean Castex.
“
We cannot abandon you
,” he stressed.
"
The Covid crisis has given rise to difficult and precarious situations
".
Celebrated by the political authorities for having continued to feed the French at the height of the health crisis, farmers remain faced with a multitude of challenges and unease that remains, deprived again this year of their showcase of the Agricultural Show for cause of Covid-19.
Beyond livestock, the income of French farms fell in 2020, estimated INSEE at the end of December, a consequence of poor harvests of cereals and beets, but also of the drop in cash flow from pig farms and bovine (milk and meat).
Farmers regularly denounce the fact that they have to sell their animals at a price lower than their production costs.
The National Bovine Federation (FNB) recently calculated that a beef farmer earned an average of 8,000 euros in 2020, or less than 700 euros per month.
The excess mortality from suicide is also "
particularly marked among cattle breeders (milk and meat) aged 45 to 54
", according to the FNB.
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