2024-02-01 19:04:42
By PL.T. with AFP
Published 6 hours ago, Updated now
Since the announcement of the first plan in 2008, the FNSEA, the majority agricultural union, has been slowing down. marritch / stock.adobe.com
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau announced this Thursday during a press conference the termination of the plan aimed at reducing the use of pesticides in France.
“A break”. To appease the anger of farmers, the government made new announcements this Thursday. Among them, the putting on hold of the Ecophyto plan “time to rework a certain number of aspects, to simplify it” said Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau. What is it about ? Explanations.
Reduce phytosanitary products
Launched after the Grenelle Environment Forum in 2008, the first Ecophyto plan had a clear objective: to reduce the use of plant protection products, or pesticides, by 50% within 10 years. «Si possible», added the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition. To achieve its goals, the State has implemented actions based in particular on research and innovation to find alternative methods to the use of pesticides such as mechanical weeding.
“During the first five years of its application, the consumption of these products increased”noted the authors of a study published in 2017 in Cahiers agricultures judging this first version of the plan as “a failure”. Seeing that the objectives set for 2018 would be difficult to achieve, the State then postponed the deadlines to 2025. In February 2023, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced a new postponement and the launch of a consultation to establish an Ecophyto 2030 plan.
To maintain the competitiveness of French farmers, this plan aimed to offer alternative solutions to 75 molecules – representing 79% of volumes sold in France in 2022 – most exposed to the risk of withdrawal from the market in the next 5 years.
A plan called into question by some farmers
Since the announcement of the first plan in 2008, the FNSEA, the majority agricultural union, has been slowing down. “It’s a punitive and stigmatizing approach,” declared Christiane Lambert, then president of the powerful organization, in 2018. The solutions were not available, [la météo] has not helped us and the approach is elitist. The latest version of the plan presented by Elisabeth Borne was also immediately rejected by producers of large crops (cereals, oil seeds, sugar, beets). From the start of the mobilization of farmers, the FNSEA placed the rejection of the Ecophyto plan among the “emergency measures” of its demands.
Dismayed environmental NGOs
“What Gabriel Attal is proposing to us today completely contradicts national strategies” decarbonization, food or agricultural planning, immediately regretted Thomas Uthayakumar, of the Foundation for Nature and Man, to AFP. For the WWF too, this break is “a disastrous signal”. “Chemical pollution is one of the main factors responsible for the decline of animal and plant biodiversity, on a par with climate change”added Jean Burkard, director of advocacy at WWF France.
Faced with the government’s announcement, elected environmentalists also reacted strongly. “The government can decide to no longer protect water, land, biodiversity and even our health. But with that our farmers will not earn more”reacted on X, the boss of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier. “To throw the environment out to pasture to avoid tackling the real problems is to add to the misfortune of a sector and persist in its sacrifice”commented MEP David Cormand.
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