Some 1,200 farmers in the south-west demonstrated on Tuesday in Mont-de-Marsan in front of the Landes prefecture to denounce a "
drop in authorizations to take water
" for irrigation after a court decision, according to the prefecture and unions .
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Decreases of 30 to 50% for next summer
The demonstrators supported by some 70 tractors, also coming from the Gers, the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Hautes-Pyrénées, gathered until the beginning of the afternoon at the call of the Young Farmers (JA) of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in front of the prefecture of which they watered the water course, after having dumped earth and hay in front of an administrative building a little further.
“
Today, attacking water is attacking the act of production.
We do not understand that certain movements that are too ideological deny this reality
”, indicated the president of the FNSEA Christiane Lambert, who came on site to support the farmers.
The demonstrators denounce a judgment of last February of the Administrative Court of Pau which would result according to the JA, "
significant reductions in the volumes withdrawn from this season 2021
", thus affecting "the
whole agricultural economy
".
The drops could be "
30 to 50% for next summer
", they are alarmed.
Capped withdrawals
The court, seized by several environmental associations, then canceled the single multi-year water withdrawal authorization, granted since August 2017 to the Irrigadour mixed union, in charge of collective water management.
The court's decision provides for a transitional period with "
capped withdrawals
" before a final cancellation, on May 31, 2022, of the authorization to withdraw water from the perimeter of the Adour basin.
“
My salads need water.
Tomorrow, we are going to have to import food,
”worries AFP Cathy Degert, market gardener in the region, who has come to demonstrate to denounce“
the nonsense
”and“
the infernal demagoguery
”of the situation.
The mobilization "
will last as long as it is not restored, because without water, there is no food and therefore no agriculture
", warns Bastien Porte, farmer in mixed cropping and breeding.
"Excessive" withdrawals
According to the Landes Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the “
reduction in irrigation could cause serious damage
” to the Adour basin sector, with a “
major risk
” of relocation of agro-industrial activities.
According to the environmental protection association Sepanso, one of the associations at the initiative of the appeal, "
the past withdrawals were excessive, the rivers are at their lowest, that poses environmental problems
", indicated to the 'AFP Georges Cingal, president of the Landes federation.