Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Gaymard said he did not have exact figures for the loss, but estimated: "I'd say several billion euros... between one and four billion (between 1.1 billion and 4.4 billion dollars)."

The blow to Europe's biggest agricultural producer was severe, and comes as France faces a budgetary squeeze brought on by a contracting economy in the second quarter of this year.

Nevertheless, Gaymard promised that French farmers would receive state financial help -- though probably not to the level requested.

"Everyone knows the costs for farmers will be high, and that national solidarity should come into play," he said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was to chair a meeting later Friday of the major agricultural organisations, many of which were demanding the government make overdue payments into a disaster fund.

The head of one of the organisation, Jean-Michel Lemetayer of the National Federation of Farmers' Unions, told the La Tribune newspaper he agreed with the four-billion-euro figure and said the government also had to provide free loans and tax suspensions for his members.

"What's at stake is the survival of thousands of farmers in 2004," he said.

Although the drought was in place before the killer heatwave that roasted France the first half of August, the persistent temperatures around 40-degree-Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) greatly worsened the situation for farmers.

Crops wilted, millions of poultry died and livestock farmers had to use forage intended for winter to feed their animals.

In the central Correze region of France, train brought in 400 tonnes of straw from Normandy for farmers desperate at the pitiful state of their herds.

"We have a high number of deaths among the cows, and milk production and the weight of the animals has dropped," a local farmers' union leader, Tony Cornelissen, told AFP.

The emergency delivery was barely sufficient, but provided "breathing space," he said, adding that he had to sell several head to buy the forage.

For French consumers, the financial fall-out of the drought was already being felt, with prices for fruit and vegetables soaring in recent weeks.

Wine, too, was expected to become more expensive, though many makers were predicting a vintage of exceptional quality because, even though the grapes were producing less juice for pressing, the taste was more intense.

For the government, though, the double whammy of deaths related to the heatwave and the losses in the agricultural sector have pushed it up against the constraints of the euro zone, and the farmers may find themselves a secondary priority.

President Jacques Chirac on Thursday promised more state help for France's elderly and fixes to the health system after it became clear that they formed the overwhelming bulk of the fatalities from the heatwave, which his government admitted had probably topped 10,000.

But, on top of tax cuts already being implemented and the economic contraction, the extra spending is again pushing the country over the 3.0-percent-of-GDP deficit ceiling imposed under euro-zone rules.

Gaymard admitted the farmers' demand for tax breaks may not be "technically possible, because of the constraints from Brussels."

TERRA.WIRE