Paris (AFP)

Management of the population of wolves, fight against drought and pesticides: on the eve of the return, the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume tried to answer Thursday the anxieties of the peasants by announcing a series of measures.

In an interview on CNews, however, he did not comment on trade deals with Canada and Mercosur, which farmers have been protesting against this summer. Nor did he develop the subject of animal welfare, merely promising measures without revealing them.

- "Effaroucher" the wolves -

"I would like a decree issued by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Ecological Transition, not to kill, but to frighten, that the breeder who has the hunting license can defend his flock," said the minister Thursday morning on CNews . "Effaroucher is to put a shot, not necessarily kill, but to make them leave," he said.

"We have just set up the wolf plan, and we have the possibility to take samples of up to 17% of the wolf population, because the wolf is no longer a species in the process of depopulation (...) there are more than 500 wolves on French territory ".

But in the Hautes-Alpes, the breeders of the Ecrins Park are in a special situation: "In a natural park you can not shoot, it's the law," said the minister, assuring that he "saw the distress of breeders, who can not anymore. "

The breeders who blocked the main entrance of the prefecture of the Hautes-Alpes since Monday evening raised the camp in the night, without having obtained the authorization to shoot the wolves, after a meeting Wednesday evening between the patron of the FNSEA and the Minister of Ecological Transition Élisabeth Borne.

- Drought: authorized water reservoirs -

At a time when the drought has again affected crops and livestock, Mr. Guillaume also announced that the government would authorize the establishment of a "sixty" reservoir of water in the territory, between 2019 and 2022, to better manage agricultural land irrigation.

"We are not going to watch the rain fall from the sky for six months and look for the other six months of the year.This is to capture the rainwater, to hold it in reservoirs + hills +, (.. .) to be able to restore it afterwards in soils, when there is drought, "he explained.

While these projects are regularly challenged before the administrative courts by the environmental protection associations, the minister recalled having, with the Ministry of Ecological Transition, "obtained an instruction arbitrated by the Prime Minister" to "again do reservoirs of water ".

- Pesticides: "no treatment zones" -

Mr. Guillaume also warned that the state would impose "no treatment zones", where the application of crop protection products on crops will be prohibited, if riparian, elected and farmers can not agree to establish set of territorial "charters" for spreading.

"We set up departmental charters, territorial charters, in which residents, farmers, elected officials, under the authority of the prefect, must agree to the areas of spreading. not to agree, then we will put in place what are called areas of non-treatment.The Council of State asked us ".

The minister did not indicate the time limits for this local democracy exercise and also remained very vague about the possibility of an area of ​​"two" to "five" meters around the dwellings.

Borne said Tuesday to share "totally the concern of the mayor of Langouët" (Ille-et-Vilaine), who tried to make an order prohibiting the use of pesticides within 150 meters of any construction. She announced that a regulatory project was under consideration to establish a "minimum area between land application and housing".

The main agricultural union FNSEA has pronounced itself for solutions "on a case by case" rather than a strict delimitation imposed by the State, which would reduce the useful agricultural area and thus the income of French farmers, already quite weakened .

© 2019 AFP