| |
|
Agriculture's key figures |
 |
 |
Is France still a major agricultural powerhouse? |
|
|
|
|
A regulatory CAP has greatly fostered the development of an institutional framework backing price stability, and thus productive investments that enhance agricultural production growth.
France thus ranks among the first five world’s producers for a variety of crops––wheat, which is the staple food for over a third of the global population5, sugar beet, rapeseed as well as various fruit and vegetables6.
|
 |
A power now called into question by the CAP dismantling and competition that is difficult to sustain. |
 |
The competitive positions of French agriculture have been steadily deteriorating for over ten years: In 1995, France still ranked as the world’s sixth largest agricultural producer and the second largest exporter of agricultural products7.
The causes of such deterioration can be assigned to the two following factors:
- The dismantling of the Common Agricultural Policy that weakened most French and European farmers due to a stronger exposure to price volatility;
- The emergence of large agricultural powerhouses, such as Brazil, China or India, which have the ability to maintain their prices by social or environmental dumping;
- And lastly, the loss of competitiveness of French agriculture within the European Union, a result of the lack of fiscal and social harmonization, and higher employment costs in France8.
|
 |
According to momagri, ending his negative spiral is possible. It is imperative to replace production at the core of agricultural policies in order to support the productivity and competitiveness of French agriculture.
Such requirement involves continuing to invest to promote innovation, and at the same time implementing regulatory policies to curb agricultural price volatility, which has a negative impact on investment. |
 |
|
|
1 2011 Eurostat et Global Trade Atlas statistics
2 2011 Global Trade Atlas statistics
3 2010 FAO statistics
4 According to 2011 FAO and 2010 World Bank statistics
5 International Development Research Center
6 FAO Stat, 2009, production in value terms
7 FAO and WTO statistics
8 French National Assembly report by Representative Bernard Reynès, “Analysis and proposals regarding issues of labor costs in the agricultural production sector”, June 2011. |
|
|
| |
| | | |
| | |
| |