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Video length: 3 min
VIDEO. Drought in the Pyrénées-Orientales: farmers are reinventing themselves to save water
VIDEO. Drought in the Pyrénées-Orientales: farmers are reinventing themselves to save water
(1:15 p.m. SATURDAY / FRANCE 2)
Faced with the historic drought that is raging in the Pyrénées-Orientales, farmers are trying to find solutions to keep their activity going. André, aware of the ecological issues, has successfully launched into permaculture.
Since 2022, the Pyrénées-Orientales department has been suffering from a historic drought, never recorded for over fifty years. Residents are forced to save every drop of water. A difficult situation for farmers who are fighting to maintain their activity. Some have long since become aware of the ecological issues and have found solutions.
André worked as a wholesaler at the Port-Vendres fish market until the day the trawlers stopped bringing in fish due to overfishing. In 2011, after losing his job, he took a radical turn and became a market gardener. But this time, he wanted to work in harmony with nature, he practices his market gardening in permaculture; a natural agriculture that uses very little water.
On his plots where he grows carrots, André explains to the teams “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” (X, #1:15 p.m.) how he uses nature to conserve maximum humidity in his crops: “The goal is to always have the ground mulched. We have a mulch of vegetable shreds, it is shredded wood. This material is placed on the ground where it will be consumed by the life of the soil: mushrooms and earthworms, and it will create humus which will then be mixed with the soil. Humus is interesting because it retains ten times its weight in water. So it is a super sponge that we have at ground level. This means that from year to year, if we encourage the development of earthworms, we will have our sponge which will simply deepen and therefore we have a constant water reserve. This allows us to get through periods of drought, to use much less water.” André estimates his water consumption to be 5 to 10 times lower than what he would need in conventional agriculture. Despite the drought, his vegetable production has not decreased.
But when he started his business, he had to overcome some resistance, particularly from his mother who came from a family of market gardeners.He convinced me because at the beginning when he started, I was a little skeptical.she confesses in front of her son. The whole family was, and now, seeing the results, they said to themselves: ‘The little one is teaching us.’ So there’s something to be proud of!»
Excerpt from “Drought Alert”, broadcast on “13h15 le samedi” the 21st september 2024.
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