Charles Guyard (in Nantes), edited by Solène Leroux 12:04 p.m., April 29, 2022

Some jobs are shunned by the French, such as harvesting lily of the valley, which is traditionally offered on May 1.

80% come from the Nantes basin, but this year, no one wants to pick them up, except asylum seekers.

So will there be enough bells for May Day?

REPORT

"Heading for full employment," said Elisabeth Borne on Thursday, after the new announced drop in unemployment in France.

But what job?

Some are shunned by the French.

Like the harvest of lily of the valley, which is traditionally offered on May 1st.

80% come from the Nantes basin, but this year, no one wants to pick them up.

So will there be enough bells for May 1?

Market gardener in the Nantes basin, Louis Bouyer is rather skeptical.

"We lack thrush everywhere. It's unheard of," he says at the microphone of Europe 1.

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240 people registered, 85 hired

This shortage, which affects the entire sector, has an explanation: the unprecedented lack of manpower.

“We started harvesting on April 13,” explains the market gardener.

"We had 240 people registered, and when we hired, the next morning, we were 85."

The consequence: "1.2 million strands that remain in the fields. It's a net loss and cancellations of orders at the end of the season", deplores Louis Bouyer.

"We don't know why people didn't come."

Those who did not move were mainly students or job seekers.

But luckily, there were still people in the fields, like Issa, a 26-year-old undocumented Cameroonian.

"It was still a bit hard," he told Europe 1. "But the work, we wanted it, we need it."

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 May 1: the tradition of lily of the valley

380 asylum seekers for picking

In all, 380 asylum seekers ensured the picking in two farms.

“This year, if the migrants had not been there, it would have been very, very complicated for the producers”, affirms Catherine Libault, president of the association Accompagnement migrant integration in Nantes.

"The producer with whom we have been working for two years had to double his workforce, compared to last year", she explains again.

"At his house, we were the only ones in the fields, there was no one, so luckily we were there."

Foreign labor which, this year, has indeed saved the lily of the valley season.

"We were more numerous than the French," concludes Issa.