Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot (France) (AFP)
The ciflorette and the gariguette are ready to be picked, but a week before the peak of production, the strawberry growers of Lot-et-Garonne are not sure of having the necessary arms, nor then the distribution channels.
The leading national producer with 15,000 tonnes of strawberries per year, half of which is the flagship variety, Lot-et-Garonne has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis.
The 360 strawberry farmers in the department are very worried that harvesting has already started for certain varieties and that they need 6,000 seasonal agricultural workers each year to pick them.
These often foreign workers come mainly "from Spain, Portugal, Morocco or Poland", says Philippe Blouin president of the Interprofessional Association of Fruits and Vegetables of Lot-et-Garonne (AIFLG).
"Today about half are missing, or 3,000 seasonal workers due to the closure of the borders with these countries. Producers who did not bring agricultural workers from abroad soon enough are in difficulty."
Patrick Jouy, strawberry farmer in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot, north of Agen, produces 8 tonnes of strawberries per year on 8 hectares, mainly ciflorette: "last week we had to have 30 people expected to arrive," said "They are blocked at the Polish and Romanian borders. We also had to have a team of Moroccan workers expected to arrive soon. They are also blocked. To date we are only 40% of the workforce."
- "10 years to recover" -
Solidarity is organized. The Chamber of Agriculture has created an "Agricultural employment exchange", whose "objective is to put farmers in contact with available workers to lend them to others who have labor needs With the benevolence of the State services ", explains Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, the president of the chamber
Local labor is also sought by the strawberry industry, as recommended on Tuesday by the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume who asked "men and women who no longer have any activity (…) to join the 'French agriculture ".
"It is a good thing, believes Philippe Blouin. We must all show solidarity in the face of this shortage of manpower problem. The minister's speech must be relayed locally. Harvesting is essential to avoid the bankruptcy of certain operations ", he says.
However, this is not the ideal solution for Patrick Jouy: "We were able to recruit around twenty new people at the start of the week, self-employed workers, craftsmen, job seekers, but that is not sad! "Today there are fewer and fewer sons of farmers and they do not know the trade. We have a problem of competence and some after two days are tired," he laments.
For him the main problem is not that of labor, but rather the lack of outlets for its production.
"Large retailers no longer buy our production from us, they are afraid of losing it because of containment measures because the strawberry does not keep long. In recent days we have not sold anything," he said.
"The final blow was the Prime Minister's announcement to close the outdoor markets", a short circuit which remained an important outlet.
And when he manages to sell his production, Patrick Jouy is forced to sell it off. "We sell today for two euros per kilo of ciflorette, which is a high-end product, instead of 8 to 10 euros usually, knowing that our production cost is 6.50," he says. .
"We will take 10 years to recover but many farms will go bankrupt, he warns. It is catastrophic, the strawberry farmers are in danger."
© 2020 AFP