Like last summer, the irrigation of agricultural land in the Vienne could be cut off due to the drought. Producers are worried.
Water restrictions and sharing are at the center of a meeting on Monday March 6 which brings together all the prefects of France around the Minister for Ecological Transition. France is in a crisis situation. The aquifers have not recharged this winter. And in some areas farmers do not know if they will be able to irrigate. This is the case in Vienna.
>> Farmer, fisherman, mayor… In the middle of winter, they are already suffering from drought
When you enter the cold room of Damien Laroche’s farm, you see yoghurts and packaged meat. We are here a few kilometers from Poitiers. In the sector most threatened by water restrictions. Last year, on this farm, the irrigation was cut off in July. And this year the prefect suggested that agriculture in this sector was threatened by global warming. Damien Laroche no longer has any guarantee on his future. “Personally, I feel mistreated by the prefecture”says the farmer. “We are almost told that irrigation will stop in our department, which means that we have no future prospects for our livestock, market gardening or specialized crop sectors”he laments.
Suspended bedpan project
The subject of water distribution was launched in the department. Crisis management had been going on for decades. The water manager in Vienne therefore made an inventory. The provisional result is that it will be necessary to make significant water savings and review the distribution. This calls into question the basin project that was launched by the farmers. Near Damien Laroche’s farm, five reserves were planned. Laurent Lambert is one of the project leaders, concerned about safeguarding irrigation. According to him, “the renaturation of rivers will have a much greater impact than making replacement reserves”. “We have a plan for five reserves, so maybe two will be enough if we renature the river.”
“We know very well that if there is water in the river, we can irrigate behind it.”
Lawrence Lambertat franceinfo
To build the basins, the farmers relied on significant funds from the water agency. The opponents of the project in this new context therefore propose to redirect this money. “It would mean that they would be subsidized to change the mode of cultivation, suggests Jean-Claude Hallouin of the association Vienne Nature. And he could also be helped to set up sectors since when you cultivate new varieties, one of the problems is that there is not, there is not the sector behind it.”
Today farmers say that a lot has already been done in terms of transition. Proponents of basins are now threatening to attack the water study to safeguard irrigation.