The new operation of the RSA, the active solidarity income, is putting some farmers in Vaucluse in difficulty. Since July, the department has been experimenting with minimum income conditional on 15 hours of activity per week. Beneficiaries registered for more than twelve months must therefore participate in workshops, interviews, then “professional scenarios” three hours a day or fifteen hours a week.
But this new rule poses a problem for farmers who live on minimum income while they develop their agricultural activity. Nathalie Wouters, for example, has invested in new land in Saumane-de-Vaucluse two years ago where she grows rose bushes and aromatic plants for cosmetics. As long as her activity generates sufficient income, she lives on RSA on a daily basis. But in September, during a meeting with a Department agent, she was told that she would have to work 15 hours each week to continue to benefit from it.
“I can’t take on two activities”
“I am offered 15 hours of cleaning per week, but that is, they went astrayI cannot take on two activities, she whispers. I also have two cracked menisci so it seems very complicated to me. And then I got involved in events, fairs, Christmas markets. I have appointments scheduled. We are not without activity, we are not without work. It is not with joy of heart that we are at the RSA.”
Nathalie Wouters would like that the special status of farmers registered with the RSA be taken into account. “I understand the law, I don't dispute it, but hey I don't sell pot in the neighborhoods, I work more than 45 hours a week and I do everything to get by at 54she insists. And my only goal, obviously, is to get out of the RSA.”
An agreement in preparation with the MSA
The Peasant Confederation directly alerted the president of the Vaucluse Department of this situation. And Dominique Santoni responded to the union in a letter that we were able to consult. “I pay particular attention to our farmers because of their essential contribution to the economy of our department and to our food sovereignty”she begins. Dominique Santoni explains working on this subject with the MSAthe agricultural social mutuality, for several months.
“I personally received the president of the MSA in September 2024 to complete this work. During this meeting, we agreed to finalize together an agreement which will be effective at the beginning of 2025. Through this partnership, the MSA will support farmers receiving RSA in order to best meet the specific needs of these farmers.”indicates the president of the Department of Vaucluse in this letter.
Adele Bossard
