They didn’t want to be named in the newspaper. Yet the gesture is very real. In the space of ten daysthis couple of farmers has sold more than a ton of fruits and vegetables from its exploitation at the association Salvation base to ventisers. The objective? redistribute this commodity to people in difficulty in the villages of the Eastern Plaine particularly. Wetsters, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant: fresh, organic products, leaving directly from the field.
Originally, a situation which has become untenable. Under the effect of global warmingthe plantations overlap and the harvests all arrive suddenly. Impossible to sell these volumes.
In this context, rather than watching its products in a greenhouse or in the open field rot, the association has thought of making those they call for it “The real forgotten” : the ancient isolated from the villages.
It was his friend who initiated the first contact with the association. Since then, three waves of donations have made it possible to deliver to 800Â kg fruits and vegetables in a few days. “It went very quickly. It was not to show ourselves. It’s just that we couldn’t stand to throw”slides the market gardener on the phone.
Mostly elderly, isolated, living with less than 600 euros per month
Michel Baltolu and Alexia Cucchi, of the association, still do not come back from the extent of the demand. “The heat matures everything at the same time. They can no longer sell, and we cannot close your eyes when we know that people no longer have the means to fill their fridge.”
Donations are immediately conditioned, transported and distributed, in connection with the town halls.
Showing handerlessness, youress with prientgeri or for preser, Éntul Éndus reading menu to prottify to learn the bénéfiaires Elicum. Majoritairement des elderlyisolated, living with less than 600 euros per month. Some do not leave them anymore, for lack of mobility or means. So the team brings the crates to their door. “These are the elderly with very modest pensions, people who live in the social housing of the town. They are not people who have large villas”explains Alexia Cucchi.
But the discounts are most often made with discretion. In Corsica, the question of help remains sensitive: “Identity means that people have a certain dignity, and we try to leave them this dignity so that they do not lose it,” says Michel before ensuring: “It is hard to see that precariousness is still a taboo here. But it is especially more present than you think. These are products that most of the people you help can offer themselves before. “
The model is rudimentary, but it works. It is from the field to the village without intermediary. “There is no stock. Everything is delivered and sold in the two or three days. We compose baskets with what we receive: 5 tomatoes, 2 melons, 1 watermelon, some eggplant …”details Alexia.
The initial idea remains simple: not throwing anything, and restoring meaning to what the earth produces. “It is not rebuilding vegetable, nor badly calibrated. It is a good product, just too much to be absorbed by local consumption”, says market gardeners.
“It was not planned. But given human feedback, we say to ourselves that we did well”
For the moment, they are the only market gardeners to act in this way. The fear of misunderstandings, controversy or, quite simply, not to have time, has slowed down other structures.
And yet the need is there. There are many returns on social networks. Calls come from Balagne, Bastia, Porto-Vecchio. In the EHPAD too, we organize ourselves: in Propriano, the watermelons received were pressed by the cook to offer residents of juices and granities.
On the side of the market gardeners, the initiative could be perpetuated if they are reached out. “On the moral level, it is comforting … but it is not economically viable. If that were to continue, we would have to be accompanied.”
Their priority is to hold the season. Then may come the time to Structure the initiative. To think of a pooling with other operators. “It was not planned. But given the human feedback, we tell ourselves that we did well.” For the moment, the approach does not allow you to expand year: “In winter, we produce less, and these are preservation vegetables. There are much less surplus.” But global warming could decide otherwise: “If the seasons continue to get carried away as this year, the production peaks will become the norm”concludes the farmer.
