“Eat apples”… Jean Castex in support of agriculture in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence



Jean Castex, photographed in May 2021. May 20, 2021. GUILLAUME SOUVANT / POOL /SIPA//SOUVANTGUILLAUME_1911.25166/2105201620/Credit:GUILLAUME SOUVANT / SIPA / 2105201623 – WILLIAM SOUVANT / SIPA

A nod to Jacques Chirac. “Eat apple”, launched this Saturday Jean Castex, during a trip to Sisteron (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) to verify the deployment of special aid of one billion euros to agriculture , which suffered from frost in early April. The Prime Minister, accompanied by the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault and the leader of LREM deputies to the National Assembly Christophe Castaner, visited the Sica Alpes Fruits Conditionnement fruit station, whose apple production is shipped to 75 % in France and 25% abroad and whose losses are estimated at 40% this year.

The frosts at the beginning of April constitute “probably the greatest agronomic disaster of the beginning of the 21st century”, according to the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie, with “several hundred thousand hectares affected”. And in Paca, a hundred farms are in extreme difficulty and could benefit from the envelope “emergency freeze fund” to the tune of 565,000 euros.

In Sisteron, the Prime Minister stressed that to resolve the “major problem” of frost, which affected viticulture and arboriculture in several regions of France, it was necessary to go beyond the “urgent” reaction to to the “recurrence of these events”. “We are in a phase of profound climatic transformation and we must adapt,” said Jean Castex, stressing that agriculture was part of “the economic sovereignty of France”.

“Put insurance around the table and perform their role”

The president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FDSEA) of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department Laurent Depieds called for “to put insurance around the table and perform their role”. The Prime Minister replied that the government intended to move towards “a mutualised system with stronger public guarantees” than the current system which is “mainly based on private insurance”.

Jean Castex also declared that he intended “to put more money in research” and “to fill the envelopes with the stimulus plan”. The Prime Minister announced in April an “exceptional solidarity fund” of one billion for farmers (wine growers, arborists, beet growers in particular) affected by frosts.



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