Alert in certain French fruit and vegetable sectors.
“There is an urgency” to find solutions for apples and endives, treated with products likely to be banned, said Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau on Thursday.
“We find ourselves in a technical impasse” for these products and “we have concerns for 2024,” he stressed at the Agricultural Show.
“We should have been concerned about this a long time ago,” admitted the minister, who regularly uses the expression “no ban without a solution” on the subject of pesticides.
“The endive sector has no visibility on its capacity to produce after 2024, following the announced withdrawal of several key active substances making it possible to guarantee the technical and economic sustainability of this traditional crop from Hauts-de-France (90% of production French)”, underlined the association of endive producers of France in an open letter to Gabriel Attal at the beginning of February.
A plan for France's food sovereignty
The minister presented on Thursday an assessment one year after the launch of a plan intended to “reconquer” France's sovereignty in fruits and vegetables, currently 50% imported.
Also read “Our imports have doubled”: is it still possible to eat French?
In particular, it made it possible to allocate 100 million euros to equipment modernization projects, for greenhouses or irrigation for example, as well as 40 million euros to food aid associations for the purchase of fruit. and vegetables.
In 2024, the plan provides for an additional 100 million euros.
“It is important to have this follow-up because in the current context, we could wonder if the continuation of the plan would not be postponed”, underlined Alexis Degouy, the general director of the inter-professional association of fresh fruits and vegetables. (Interfel).