Recent growth of the fig (Ficus carica) orchard in France, an effect of global warming?

A study was carried out in 2022 on the recent development of the professional fig orchard in France, which has long been a producer country, but also one of world’s leading importers of figs (fresh and dried). The latest data show that the area under fig trees in France has more than doubled since the beginning of the 2010s, to reach nearly 900 ha (for 6,400 t in 2021). This planting movement has gone largely unnoticed during the annual surveys conducted by the official services, which illustrates the difficulty of closely monitoring a relatively atomised minor production.
This growth has been accompanied by a recomposition of the production areas, with a shift towards the west of the country but also the creation of orchards in areas where the fig tree was not commercially cultivated until now.
The factors that have favoured this renewed interest in fig production are also analysed.
It appears that the main reasons for planting fig trees are the need to diversify with a sustainable crop and rather remunerative prices, and to replace stone fruit trees uprooted following plum pox disease.
Global warming has so far had little influence on farmers’ planting choices because the 3 French regions around the Mediterranean still represent 90% of the country’s surface are.
As for public initiatives to encourage the planting of fig trees, they seem to have played only a marginal role.

VII International Symposium on Fig

B. Peyre

production area, fig grower, market, alternative crop, sustainability, public initiative

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1405.5