The Council of Tenerife has recovered 2.5 hectares of agricultural land in Las Llanadas, in the realejeras, to create there “the largest farm for the conservation of cold fruit trees in the entire Canary Islands”, as announced by the island president, Pedro Martin (PSOE). To achieve this, they have planted 790 trees of a hundred varieties of apple, pear and plum trees on the islandwhich will serve as a genetic reserve and as a training room for future generations of farmers.
Peter Martin announced that the Island Council plans to invest 1.1 million euros in this project between 2022 and 2025. Amount that will help make this farm in Los Realejos «serve as gene bank to preserve the unique and typical varieties of the island, as well as as a training space for the sector”. To start up the training classroom, an existing building will be rehabilitated and a specific module will be created to carry out activities with young farmers.
Peter Martin; the insular Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla; the Minister of Natural Environment and Security, isabella garciaand the insular director of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cayetano SilvaThey visited the farm on Monday, which until recently was in disuse. The president explained that “the intention is that the most productive local varieties can be made available to farmers once tested, preventing this part of our natural heritage from being lost.”
The Tenerife Council has allocated a total of 643,694 euros to the initial conditioning of the farmthe installation of a localized irrigation system, the planting of trees, as well as maintenance expenses until 2025. At this amount another 463,992 euros are addedwith which the rehabilitation of the existing building will begin in 2024 to “create, not only a storage space, but a training classroom to continue promoting the professionalization of our young farmers,” advanced Pedro Martín.
The Island Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrillaadded that “this action is part of the strategy that we began at the beginning of the mandate for the recovery of the agricultural spaces of the island, among which is also the start-up of the farm Presas del Campoto which we will allocate more than half a million euros.
Specifically, on this farm in the upper area of The Realejos 368 apple trees or patterns for apple trees have been planted, of 58 varieties collected in Tenerife. Of these, 33 are unique varieties of the island. 356 pear trees or rootstocks for pear trees have also been planted, of which 71 are unique varieties on the island; 39 plums or patterns of plums and 27 other apple or pear trees on the slopes or edges of plots.
The Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation Center of Tenerife (Ccbat) will use this farm to conserve and carry out studies of the pipe fruit trees, as it is the largest existing farm for the conservation of this type of trees for agricultural use. For the design of the apple and pear orchards, previous genetic and morphological studies were carried out, which made it possible to detect duplicate specimens that were not incorporated. “Our objective was to optimize the resources of the plantation, but at the same time, promote the conservation of the maximum possible diversity,” he explained. Javier Parrilla.
The estate, whose varieties have been distributed based on their genetic closeness, has two other plots. One is intended for the multiplication of orthodox seeds with high cold requirements and the other for the multiplication of other vegetatively reproduced crops, such as potatoes and garlic.
368 apple trees
368 apple trees of 58 varieties collected in Tenerife have been planted in Las Llanadas, of which 33 are unique varieties of the island such as the pajarita or the incarnate.
356 pear trees
In the case of this fruit tree, 71 specimens of unique varieties have been planted on the islands, such as San Juanera, La Reina, La Parda, Bergamote, Cermeña, Añera or Tetilla, among others.
39 plum trees
Among the varieties of plums that can be found in Tenerife are the cagona, bicaco, white plum from the country, from La Orotava, huevo de chivato, small red or Japanese.
