Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Banana farmers’ livelihoods blasted by lava on La Palma
LAS MANCHAS DE ABAJO, Canary Islands — His home went first. Then the house his father built. Then the lottery stand and hardware store.
Lastly, Antonio Alvarez had to watch as lava from a volcanic eruption slowly devoured the remaining pillar of his family’s wealth: the dozen acres he dedicated to growing the Canary Island banana that for generations has provided the agricultural lifeblood of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago.
“My father always told me ‘don’t make the house too big, it won’t make you money; invest in banana! The bananas will give you a house.’ And it’s true,” Alvarez said. “When I filmed (the lava destroying) my father’s house, it was seeing him die all over again. That house was a part of him.”
Alvarez, 54, is one of thousands of farmers and workers on Spain’s La Palma island whose livelihoods have been put in jeopardy by the destruction wrecked by volcano that is still going strong six weeks after the ground first broke open Sept. 19.
The regional government of the Canary Islands, an archipelago including La Palma off the coast of northwest Africa, estimates that the volcano has already caused $116 million in losses for the island’s banana industry. Over 390 acres of land used for banana farming have been covered by molten rock, and more than 700 additional acres have been cut off after roads on the island’s western side were enveloped by lava.
The banana growers association for the Canary Islands, ASPROCAN, estimates 1,500 of the island’s 5,000 owners of banana plantations have been hurt. Most owners have small patches or a few acres. Many, like Alvarez, have seen their land burnt and crushed. Others have lost harvests because they can’t get to their trees. And many more have seen their product become unmarketable due to the volcanic ash that has ruined the banana peels.
It’s been a shock wave for an industry that provides 30% of the economic life of the island, according to regional government statistics. There are entire businesses dedicated to packing and transporting the fruit, which, along with tourism, keeps La Palma going.
“They say it has wiped out 10% of the island’s economy. I think it is more. It wasn’t just the bananas, or the apartments, or the bed-and-breakfasts, it has taken everything,” Alvarez said. “What has happened to us has happened to 90% of the people here.”
La Palma, an island of 85,000, is the second-largest producer of banana for the eight-member archipelago. Last year it produced 148,000 tons of the local banana, most of which were shipped to Spain’s mainland.
The house of farmer Jesus Perez is still at risk, but for him the most important property he owns is already gone.
“I would have preferred to lose my house instead of my banana trees,” Perez, 56, said. “The trees give you life, the house gives you nothing. I have sacrificed all my life, and for what, nothing?”