About fifteen cherry growers unloaded a ton of damaged fruit on Thursday morning in front of the sub-prefecture of Tournon-sur-Rhône, in Ardèche, to alert the government to their difficulties. Their farms are being hit hard by pest flies after an insecticide, phosmet, was banned, they told AFP. “The situation is becoming unmanageable for producers. The idea is to alert the government, to say: put in place the safeguard plan that you have planned, (…), give us solutions”, explained to AFP Benoît Dodin, secretary General of the FDSEA in Ardèche.
Producers are calling for compensation, but above all for the long term “a dignified and effective solution that will allow (them) to live off (their) production”, because “we cannot repeat a year like the one we are in the process of live,” he said. As early as January, arboriculturists had warned of the consequences of the banning of a molecule used to fight against Drosophila suzukii, a tiny invasive midge that arrived in France ten years ago.
The European Commission refused at the beginning of 2022 to renew the registration of phosmet, due to “unacceptable risks for operators, workers, passers-by and residents”, pointed out by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa). The decision also noted “a high acute and chronic risk to consumers” as well as wildlife.
“We did a whole bunch of experiments this year, with repellents based on garlic, essential oil of ferns, massive trappings. We also use Exirel” – a product which has been authorized by way of derogation at an increased dose – and an insecticide of plant origin, pyrethrum, “but clearly it does not work”, affirmed Sylvain Bertrand, of Young farmers , lamenting “an impasse”.
Not to mention that another insect, “with which we had more problems, the Mediterranean fly, came back”, explained Benoît Dodin, 49, living in Saint-Péray, in the north-east of the Ardèche. The impact on production is “random”. It is limited for the harvests from mid-May to mid-June, but for those later, the producers evoke “30 to 40% losses compared to what is on the cherry trees”, indicated Benoît Dodin.
According to Sylvain Bertrand, 35, “some producers” even report 100% losses. “Producers are discouraged,” he summed up, asking that money be invested in research to find solutions.
