The national plan, to be put in place before the end of the year, would include €1 billion in bank loans and €650 million in exceptional state aid, he said.
The "unprecedented" measures reflected the severity of the difficulties facing agriculture, he said, citing plunging producer prices, insufficient regulation and unequal margins along the food chain.
"The crisis that the whole of the farm sector is experiencing is not merely a cyclical crisis," Sarkozy said in a speech in eastern France. "This crisis is a structural crisis."
The French president's announcement was designed as a response to farmers who have been pushing for action to counter falling farm income and who turned out in force earlier this month for protests that included a brief occupation of the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris.
Sarkozy also answered farmers' calls for farming to be given the same importance as other sectors that have benefitted from large state aid during the economic and financial crisis.
"Farmers are a part of France's national identity and the key to a sector that has as much potential for the future as nanotechnologies or aerospace," he said.
Call to tighten EU dairy regulation
Sarkozy called on the European Union to take action to curb speculation in farm commodities and help a struggling dairy sector that has been the focus of farmer protests in Europe.
France secured at an EU Agriculture Council last week €280 million in aid for dairy producers, plus approval to beef up safeguards such as intervention buying (EurActiv 20/10/09).
But Sarkozy said he wanted the EU to introduce reinforced regulatory tools at the start of 2010 and not wait for a group of experts on the dairy sector to report back in next June.
"On 30 October, I will ask the European Commission to reinforce its means of regulating the milk sector from the beginning of 2010," Sarkozy said, adding he would raise the issue when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Paris on Wednesday.
Sarkozy also said he would press the EU to introduce "genuine regulation" to limit speculation in agricultural commodity markets, without specifying possible measures.
Under the national package of support for French agriculture, farmers are to have access to €1 billion in loans to boost their short-term liquidity, with repayment deferred by a year and interest partly covered by €60 million in state aid.
The government will also offer aid to reduce social, property and energy taxes for certain farmers, with an emphasis on young and recently-established producers.
In a bid to reduce labour costs that have been cited as a major handicap for French produce, especially fruit and vegetables, Sarkozy also said farmers would be exempt from some charges for seasonal workers.
State-regulated farmer-food industry contracts
The financial support unveiled for farmers would be complemented by the development of contractual agreements between farmers and food industry clients, to be outlined in a farm bill to be finalised by the end of the year.
"I want balanced contracts that will be regulated by the state," he said. "These contracts will be rolled out in each farm sector."
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
