Horticulturalists and garden centers, hit hard by the confinement of plantations in the middle of the season, won "a small victory" with the government turnaround which has just authorized the sale of vegetable plants, qualified basic necessities. But the cacophony of regulations, which seem to favor the big chains at the expense of small producers and create inequalities between departments, sows concern and anger within the sector.
Usually, at this time of year, the 50% of French people with balconies, gardens or vegetable gardens rush to choose vegetables, flowers, trees and fruit and ornamental shrubs. “The full season of horticulture production and trade runs from March 15 to the end of May. As all the stores have been closed since the containment measures, nothing has been sold, ”laments Emmanuel de Chaumont, director of Frimont horticulture, based in Gironde.
Products thrown away every day
The health crisis "is booming for activity," also notes the president in New Aquitaine of the National Union of Horticultural and Nursery Producers (SNPHP), Antoine Daganaud. He regrets that "every day horticulturalists are forced to throw away" products "mature in a fortnight maximum".
At the start of the containment, the Ministry of Agriculture decreed that only signs selling food or animal feed, declared essential products, were authorized to open, de facto authorizing garden centers but excluding independent horticulturalists. But this Wednesday, the Secretary of State to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, also authorized "the sale of seeds and vegetable plants considered a purchase of basic necessity".
Producers are "upwind"
The decision is considered a "small victory in the face of an injustice" by Mickaël Mercier, president of Val'Hov, the interprofessional of horticulture, floristry and landscape. But those who do not sell animal feed no longer know where to dance, for lack of clear guidelines on the type of stores involved.
“The retail producers are upwind, they do not understand why they cannot open when their products are now considered essential. It is not clear at all ”, gets annoyed Mickaël Mercier. SNPHP President Julien Legrix advises its members to turn to the prefectures which "have taken the liberty of providing clearer frameworks than at the national level".
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- Coronavirus
- Covid 19
- Containment
- Economy
- Society
- Fruits and vegetables
- Vegetable garden