52,000 angry French farmers riot, set fires, stop traffic

ABC's Christophe Schpoliansky reports from Paris:

Angry French farmers blocked the famous Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris early this morning to call attention to the difficulties their sector is going though. Several other French cities were also affected. In Poitiers (western France), farmers dumped about a thousand cubic meters of soil in the city center. French media reported that several hundreds of tractors converged towards the centers of several French cities from north to south, disrupting or stopping traffic on roads and highways. 52,000 protesters took part in the protests nationwide, according to the FNSEA (Fédération Nationale des Exploitants Agricoles), France’s main farmers’ union.

In Paris, about 50 cereal growers set up barriers and dropped bales of hay on the chic Champs-Elysees avenue, next to the posh Fouquet’s restaurant where French President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his election in May 2007. Protesters set hay and tires on fire, completely blocking rush-hour traffic in several streets in the area.

“The farming world is dying”, Damien Greffin, president of the “Young Farmers” organization of the Ile-de-France (regrouping Paris and the surrounding departments) told Agence France Presse. “What we’re asking for, it is an increase in the price of raw material” he added, pointing out that a kilogram of wheat is sold 9 centimes these days for a production cost of 14 centimes.

In 2008, French farmers’ income dropped by as much as 20 percent and the situation is not expected to improve this year, according to the French Farm Ministry.

Farmers are asking the government for an emergency plan worth close to $2.1 billion.

“Today, the whole agricultural France is suffering,” Farm Minister Bruno Le Maire told France 2 TV at midday. “I’m currently working , based on the farm revenue for 2009, on the preparation of a global aid plan to the French agriculture”.

President Sarkozy announced in an interview published in Le Figaro newspaper today that he would take “strong initiatives” before the end of October for the farming sector.