War in the Middle East: social contributions, fuel loans… Government support measures for farmers

Rising costs of non-road diesel (NGR), fertilizer prices… faced with the continuing war in the Middle East and the concerns of farmers, the government is reacting. At the microphone of BFMTV this Tuesday morning, the Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard announced the postponement of tax obligations and contributions to the MSA (Mutualité sociale agricole), the social security system for farmers.

“The period is very difficult, particularly for strategic inputs such as GNR and fertilizers, which are directly affected by the energy crisis,” she explained.

At the same time, Annie Genevard announced the establishment of “a short-term fuel loan to relieve the cash flow which is most affected by the increase in GNR”, fuel already supported to the tune of one billion euros in the last budget, according to the minister. “We are setting up structural loans of up to 500 million euros for certain sectors to restructure the treasuries which would be most affected by this crisis,” added the former vice-president of the National Assembly.

A “major fertilizer plan” launched

Arguing that there was “no availability difficulty” on the GNR to date, Annie Genevard affirmed that “this crisis revealed fragilities, in particular a dependence on fertilizers which are essential to agricultural production”. “That’s why I’m going to launch a major fertilizer plan,” she continued. No additional details on these various announcements have been communicated.

Since the start of the war in the Middle East, the price of RNG – like other fuels – has skyrocketed. “The crisis in the Middle East has led to an unprecedented increase in recent years in the price of GNR, which rose from 700 to 900 euros per 1,000 liters,” underlined the Rural Coordination (CR) in mid-March. The union also feared an increase in the price of fertilizers, with a third of the global flow passing through the Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran.

In this context, farmers and representatives of the fertilizer and fuel sectors were received at the Ministry of the Economy on March 12. “No abuse” on the price of GNR will be “tolerated” declared the Minister Delegate for Energy Maud Bregeon at the end of the meeting.