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New measures against agricultural suicide

2020-12-02T05:30:13.067Z


In his report submitted to the Prime Minister, the deputy Olivier Damaisin recommends a departmental “referent”.


Seven recommendations for 29 actions.

The LREM deputy of Lot-et-Garonne, Olivier Damaisin, on Tuesday submitted to the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, his report presenting his avenues of work to reduce the number of suicides that plague farms.

It is the third leading cause of death in the profession after cancer and cardiovascular disease.

To read also:

"He felt alone and isolated": why 600 farmers commit suicide each year?

For 2015 alone, the latest figures compiled by the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA), the social security for farmers, 372 farmers abruptly ended their lives… or more than one per day.

An extremely serious phenomenon which calls for emergency measures.

“There are small solutions, which I propose after a Tour de France of more than six months, which can save lives,

insists Olivier Damaisin.

These measures will not necessarily require going through legislation if we want to act quickly to reduce the number of suicides ”

.

Relieve the debt burden

Among these seven recommendations, four appear simple in their implementation.

Olivier Damaisin, recommends in the first place the creation of a “suicide referent” by department.

“He would be known to all the actors who revolve around farmers, such as veterinarians, suppliers, advisers to chambers of agriculture or unions…, he

explains.

It is to him that we would turn in an emergency to prevent a farmer from killing himself. ”

Last spring the hon. Member himself faced this situation.

He was arrested by a dairy farmer who wanted to commit suicide in the Channel.

“It had to be done quickly, I didn't know who to turn to.

Thanks to my network, I was able to resolve the situation that no one around him had identified.

Fortunately, the farmer is still alive today, ”

he continues

.

But how many died in complete anonymity for lack of knowing the right people?

Read also:

"A psychologist is on the phone while waiting for the Samu": what is already in place to prevent agricultural suicide

In addition, to relieve the debt burden of farmers in difficulty, the deputy recommends that the Safer (Land development and rural establishment company) or other bodies responsible for agricultural land, such as Land of Link, can buy back from plots to indebted peasants.

They would leave them to him to cultivate by means of a lease with option of repurchase.

A kind of portage.

"This would allow the farmer to keep his head high vis-à-vis his entourage while continuing to exploit land of which he has temporarily lost ownership but not use, a very important psychological point"

, affirms Olivier Damaisin .

Third line of thought: the sustainability of respite assistance.

It finances the replacement of the farmer in a situation of professional exhaustion for ten days.

While 3,500 farmers had benefited from it before 2017, the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance did not wish to renew the envelope dedicated to it.

Olivier Damaisin pleads for

"to continue to give to the MSA the means to perpetuate its assistance to the respite which it finances on its own funds"

.

Finally, administrative simplification is one of the MP's requests.

"The prefectural services and the chambers of agriculture must help farmers to fill in files that are often too complicated and sources of a lot of unnecessary stress

,

" he

insists.

“I will meet this Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture,

Julien Denormandie

, to present my work to him.

Decrees can allow these measures to be operational, ”he

says.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2020-12-02

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