To cope with the water shortage, farmers of all types of production - field crops, market gardening or livestock farming - are looking for a way out.
“Since January 1, 2022, there has been a water deficit of 25%,
deplores Serge Zaka, independent consultant in agroclimatology.
The abundant rainfall in March is not enough to reverse the trend.
The gravity of the situation is greater in the southern part of France than in the north.”
In the Pyrénées-Orientales, where the climate is becoming
"arid",
according to the specialist, it has only rained 200 millimeters in one year.
On the front line, farmers are trying to change their practices.
This is the case of André Trives, a market gardener in Elne, 12 kilometers from Perpignan.
“I reduced the watering of my vegetables by making my soil more alive thanks to earthworms, micro-organisms and fungi, which create humus.
It's the equivalent of a super-sponge that retains ten times its weight in water and allows plants to better…
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