Innovative projects from the CTIFL de Bellegarde presented to the minister to meet the challenges of agriculture

Marc Fesneau en compagnie de Jacques Rouchassé, président du CTIFL. Midi Libre – Pierre Meuriot

Le Centre technique interprofessionnel des fruits et légumes (CTIFL) de Bellegarde recense trois projets en lien direct avec les enjeux du plan de souveraineté "Fruits et légumes".

Traveling in the Gard, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Marc Fesneau, visited this Friday, April 26, the Interprofessional Technical Center for Fruits and Vegetables (CTIFL) of Balandran in Bellegarde .

After signing a national agreement between the Gard site and the State as part of the "Fruits and vegetables" sovereignty plan, the minister visited some some of the experimental infrastructures of the Bellegardian center.

Ceris’Innov, a high productivity orchard

With three experimental projects carried out on the Baladran site, directly linked to the issues of the sovereignty plan, and on the sidelines of a new bill for agricultural sovereignty which will be defended next week at the  rsquo;Assembly, for the Minister of Agriculture, the location was not chosen at random. Under a light rain, attentive, Marc Fesneau listens.

Also read: Food sovereignty requires research for the Minister of Agriculture visiting Bellegarde

"Ceris’Innov is an orchard of cherry trees trained under netting. With quality fruits, we hope to reduce as much as possible the use of chemical inputs, says one of the center's scientists. The stated goal is clear: to fight against Drosophila suzukii, a species of invasive fly. "The installed netting acts as a barrier against pests, while the rain tarps help control fungal infections." Excluding installation, the cost of ;rsquo;such an installation costs around 60,000 euros per hectare.

Fight against the development of insects

At around 11:30 a.m., Marc Fesneau headed towards the Pilotis project, a research module on Sterile Insect Techniques (TIS). ). "This method, which aims to reduce populations of insect pests by massively releasing sterilized males of the same species, offers promising potential for combating the excessive development of these harmful organisms& ;quot;, explains David Monnin, engineer at CTIFL.

If no method, to date, is perfectly satisfactory, "combining the Ceris’Innov project and the TIS makes it possible to fight in depth against the development and profusion of insects." Due to lack of time, due to a trip to Vaucluse in the afternoon, the Minister of ;rsquo;Agriculture was unable to attend the tests of citrus crops likely to adapt to climate change, the last innovative project which was to conclude this visit to the Interprofessional Technical Center of fruits and vegetables.