«the thing is fatal: the few potatoes that have been saved from the drought do not grow or we have had to throw them away because they are buggy». This ensures Vicente Anatolio Domínguez, from the Icod el Alto Association of Bonita Potato Growers and Traditional Crops, in Los Realejos. The laments are repeated in the rest of the potato and cereal growers in Tenerife. The lack of rain and high temperatures are devastating the island countrysidewhich asks for help to alleviate this new crisis.
The Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands (Asaga) labeled as “Sinister” the “serious losses” who registered this year, both in the potato crop and in the cereal crop, “especially in the north of Tenerife”. The lossesaccording to a statement from Asaga, they from 60 to 80% since Februarythe only month so far this year in which the rainfall forecasts were close to the forecasts.
“The weather is crazy”
The secretary of the Cereals Association of Tenerife (Acete), Isabel Cabrera, agrees with Vicente Anatolio Domínguez that “The weather is crazy and causes serious damage to crops”. “The rainy cycle has been broken. Before, we could predict when it was going to rain, especially in winter, but now everything has changed. The result is that the cereal plantations, which are the ones I know of, have dried up or those that have escaped the heat and lack of water do not grow at the normal rate.
“The weather is crazy and causes serious damage to crops”
In the cereal sector, Isabel Cabrera estimates that the fall in production far exceeds 60%, which together with the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the plagues paint a “very discouraging” immediate future. But what is worrying now are the consequences of the climate change in Tenerife.
To the The Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands is particularly concerned about “the consequences that the low potato harvest may have on the marketing and consumption of this tuber, considered the basis of the diet of canaries». “Although the percentage of damage is higher in cereal farms, as it is a minority crop in the Islands, its repercussion on the internal market has a lower impact, while still being relevant for farmers who are dedicated to cereal activity” , details Asaga in the press release.
In the specific case of potato cropboth the common varieties and the beautiful ones -many of these exclusive to the Islands-, The effects of this climate cocktail with low rainfall and high temperatures “are observed in a reduction of the vegetation cover of around 50%a decrease in the vegetative cycle in four weeks, as well as the lack of tuberization and fattening”, which means according to Asaga that “the tuber fails to set correctly and does not reach the appropriate size or weight, resulting in a loss of harvest.”
In La Orotava and Los Realejos, municipalities that concentrate the largest potato area in the north of Tenerifeof the 678 hectares planted are damaged 225. Farmers and technicians consulted by Asaga Canarias estimate that this season the potato harvest will only reach 40%. The area of potato plantations in the Canary Islands stood at 4,048 hectares in 2021 (2,638 irrigated hectares and 1,410 dry land), 1,461 less than those registered in 2015.
As for the cerealsthe consequences of adverse weather already affect 135 hectaresmainly from oats, wheat, millet and fodder. Although it is anticipated that the Harvest collection begins next Julysomewhat later than usual due to the delay in planting this year while waiting for rain, Estimates suggest that producers will only collect around 20% of what is sown.
To face this setback in basic products of the Tenerife diet, The Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands demands that public administrations “establish a package of compensatory measures” for the more than 300 producers affected, especially in municipalities such as La Orotava and Los Realejos, where the lack of rain, high temperatures –above 28 degrees at the beginning of spring– and relative humidity below 20% have caused damage to a total of 360 hectares of crops, both potato and cereal.
An economic injection is urgently needed
The president of Asaga Canarias, Ángela Delgadoensures that “we urgently need an economic injection as a way to sustain the income of the affected producers in order to dissuade them from abandoning the cultivation of potatoes, vital to our diet, without forgetting that it is an emblematic product of our island culture”. “The administrations must be participants in the adverse climatic circumstances that we are experiencing and provide the necessary funds to save this exceptional situation,” said Delgado.
The next production of one of the most exclusive products of Tenerifethe pretty potatoeswill be “very depleted”warns Vicente Anatolio Domínguez from the cradle of these varieties, Icod el Alto. Added to the troubled weather, in this case, the beach of the Guatemalan mothwho is behind the ban on exporting these tubers, which arrived 400 years ago from Peru, so coveted by haute cuisine.
“I have a plantation from which I was planning to get about a thousand kilos this year but I calculate that they will remain at 200 or 300 at most,” says the representative of the Association of Growers of Bonita Potato and Traditional Crops of this area of the municipality of Los Realejos.
The damages on the gofio
Another typical product of Tenerife gastronomy will also suffer: the gofio. The damage to the cereal plantations of La Laguna, Los Realejos, La Orotava, San Juan de la Rambla, Buenavista del Norte and El Tanque are already noticeable. “Half of the plantations have dried up or can barely grow with this heat and this lack of water,” concludes Isabel Cabrera, from the Tenerife Grain Association.
