Plumping up shrivelled market for France's famed prunes

Paris

FRANCE'S famous Agen prunes have seen their market share shrivel in recent years under pressure from Chilean growers, but local farmers have ploughed money into modern methods in a bid to save their plums.

The rolling valleys in the Lot-et-Garonne region of southwest France are speckled with the white flowers of plum blossoms at this time of year.