French farms feel heat in drought alert Second Edition

The Agriculture Minister, Dominique Bussereau, came down on the side of the oyster farmers of Marennes-Olron who not only supply French seafood platters but also export larvae to much of Europe. M. Bussereau ordered 400,000 cubic metres of freshwater to be released from the Breuil Magn dam into the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIndependent (London, England : 1986)
Main Author Alex Duval Smith in Paris
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 09.08.2006
Subjects
Patsouris, M
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Summary:The Agriculture Minister, Dominique Bussereau, came down on the side of the oyster farmers of Marennes-Olron who not only supply French seafood platters but also export larvae to much of Europe. M. Bussereau ordered 400,000 cubic metres of freshwater to be released from the Breuil Magn dam into the Charente river. Last year, French oyster farmers' production was down by 30 per cent compared with 2004. Maize production in the region has also fallen but only by 10 per cent over the past 10 year s. [M. Patsouris] suggested that the Poitou-Charentes region, headed by the Socialist presidential hopeful Sgolne Royal, had opted to favour the tourism sector over agriculture. "Tourism generates EUR1.2bn (pounds 800m) and is estimated to draw only 10 to 15 per cent of the water used in the region. The agriculture sector (including maize and oysters) uses five or six times as much water but is only worth EUR100m," he said.
ISSN:0951-9467