French farmers heckle Hollande at Paris farm expo
French farmers have heckled President Hollande during annual agricultural fair in the capital as they are facing the “worst crisis ever” in the European Union's biggest agricultural economy.
Dozens of protestors from the main farmers union, FNSEA, booed and whistled as Hollande and Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll made their way through the Paris expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center on Saturday.
Angry livestock farmers tore down the stand belonging to the French agricultural minister. Police detained five members of the FNSEA, according to the union.
French farmers have been protesting throughout the country during the past months against plunging produce prices.
Hollande has said the crisis facing farmers is “exceptionally hard, exceptionally long [and] exceptionally generalized”.
“To come and exhibit in the context of so much difficulty and pain is a lovely act of patriotism. It is not compliments that farmers want but lasting policies,” he said.
Laurent Pinatel, spokesman of the national small farmers group Confederation Paysanne, said earlier that “agriculture is experiencing its worst crisis ever.”
Xavier Beulin, FNSEA head, said he would “remind (Hollande) of the depth of the crisis”.
“There is a lot of worry on the farms, a lot of people are quitting (because) they feel there is no future,” Pinatel said, saying that 5,000 farmers are leaving the sector each year.
Earlier in mid February, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced tax cuts for farmers worth 500 million euros (USD 556 million) to help ease financial pressure on them wrought by persistently low dairy and meat prices.
“Livestock farmers and the livestock industry in France are going through a crisis that is unprecedented in its intensity and its duration,” Valls told parliament.
“The government wants to take action in relation to social charges, which is vital in view of competition farmers face from other European countries,” he said.
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