the heat “will give sweeter fruit”, assures the National Federation of Fruit Producers

The heat and the sun that have bathed France in recent days is “good news”, estimated Monday, May 9 on franceinfo Françoise Roch, president of the National Federation of Fruit Producers, while 15 French departments are affected by drought, ten of which have exceeded the alert threshold. That “will advance the harvest” for producers and “give sweeter fruit” for consumers, emphasizes Françoise Roch. But “it depends how long” Drought “will last”. She does not notice “rises with shortages” of water and specifies that the producers have “very water-efficient irrigation systems and probes in orchards” which make it possible to specify “the needs of the plant” and bring water “neither too much nor too little”.

The president of the National Federation of Fruit Producers recalls that “the earlier the fruits, the less water they need”. According to her this year, for the cherry harvest, “this should be good”. The same for apricots, “until June, beginning of July”. But she recognizes that it would be necessary that “During June, we have a little water that still arrives”. This situation is “fairly advantageous” and makes it possible to anticipate the fruit harvest, “because we bring in the fruit earlier” leaving them “less time in the orchard”. The fruits “are often very full of sugar. So it can be a very good fruit year”.

For the years to come, we must “succeed in dialogue at the level of all bodies, NGOs”to prevent droughts, adds Françoise Roch, “to provide small reservoirs, where we will be able to capture this water, store this water during the winter”.