Le modèle d’exploitation agricole familiale réunionnais face à l’accroissement des contraintes foncières et économiques

Since the 1970s, the promotion of the French model of family farming in Reunion has led to the emergence of a class of medium-size “professional” farms. The originality of the process lies in the capacity of the local participants to make a foreign model their own, since agriculture there was based on a plantation economy. The establishment of this ″neofarming″ is based on land reforms and land use plans to develop the highlands as well as on specific financial aid aimed at compensation for natural limitations. This reform was a success in terms both of the number of recipients and the contribution to the development of real agricultural production. Nonetheless,funding for the reforms has been exhausted. The rising price of land and the increase in economic constraints, reinforced by the additional costs associated with distance from, and pressure of, the markets, have left the model at a standstill. To meet these new constraints, the stimulation strategy recommended by the agricultural institutions relies on a productivist approach (improved productivity, increased farm size, compensation for limitations). While there is still some margin for manoeuvre, the land constraints and urbanization reinforce the maximization of assets rather than of production. The authors discuss the dual vision of agriculture (professional versus social farming) of the professional organizations. They suggest a continuum of extremely diversified strategies. The essentially periurban status of farming and the availability of time made possible by sugar cane production are factors that favour the development of diversification and part-time farming. These choices appear to contradict the recommended model of a specialized farm providing full-time work for a couple of operators. La promotion du modèle français d’exploitation agricole familiale à La Réunion a permis, depuis les années 1970, l’émergence d’une classe d’exploitations moyennes dites « professionnelles ». L’originalité de ce processus réside dans la capacité des acteurs locaux à « endogénéiser » un modèle qui leur était étranger puisque l’agriculture était fondée sur une économie de plantation. La mise en place de cette « néoexploitation » s’est appuyée sur la réforme foncière et le plan d’aménagement des Hauts ainsi que sur des aides financières spécifiques visant à compenser les handicaps naturels. Cette réforme a été un succès tant en termes de nombre d’attributaires que de contribution au développement de véritables