May 30, 2011

 

French livestock farmers seek help as drought hits

 

 

France's main farming union called on Friday (May 27) for financial support from banks and logistical help from the rail network to help livestock breeders cope with a severe drought that has cut supply of animal forage.

 

With no end in sight to dry, warm weather that has reduced water reserves and parched farmland, the situation was now worse than in 1976, a notorious drought year in Europe, FNSEA President Xavier Beulin said on Friday (May 27).

 

"If two weeks ago we could consider we were in a situation along the lines of 1976, we now think the situation is probably even worse than 1976," he said.

 

The union was focusing on helping cattle farmers for whom reduced crop availability for animal feed has added to financial problems due to high grain costs and low meat prices.

 

"At the moment it's above all in the livestock sector where the needs are most the urgent," Beulin said. "The situation has got to a point that's hard to imagine."

 

A two or threefold surge in sales of cattle to abattoirs in the past fortnight showed how hard the squeeze had been on cattle farmers, he said.

 

The FNSEA called for banks to offer interest-free loans to give breathing space to cattle breeders until certain EU subsidies are paid in mid-October, a date already brought forward from December at France's request.

 

The government has already relaxed rules on using set-aside land for fodder and will convene in June a committee in charge of an agriculture disaster fund worth about EUR100 million (US$142.4 million).

 

National rail operator SNCF could also help efforts to distribute straw and forage plants to livestock farms around the country, Beulin said, adding that contracts organised by the union between grain growers and breeders would help curb feed prices.

 

As of Thursday (May 26), just over half of France's administrative departments were subject to some water restrictions, including irrigation curbs in worst-affected areas, according to data from the environment ministry.

 

The FNSEA reiterated a longstanding call for a national plan to develop water storage to allow rain from winter to be used in summer, blaming legal challenges from environmentalists for a lack of adequate storage facilities in France.