Economic drivers – El Día

The book Tenerife, thus was the 20th century, published by this same newspaper, includes an article published by the weekly Las Canary Islands in October 1904 that echoes a meeting held at the La Orotava City Hall to discuss the “banana question.” The weekly congratulated itself because “the innate apathy and endemic indifference seem to be shaken off a little” and proof of this was the recent constitution of a “commercial public limited company, with the aim of dedicating itself to the sale of fruits in the Canary Islands in the English squares, a company which will bear the name of the Canary Islands Fruit Importers Company. This new entity contravenes the obligation with the exporters so that they could intervene in the sale of their fruits. That is, the supervision that the owner of the fruit could exercise with the presence of him or his representatives and in the examination of the books so that the farmer himself can sell in England and thus oversee his own interests.

After these first steps, the Tenerife Agricultural Union emerged a few years later with the participation of 23 farmers from the north of the Island, thus forming the first social economy agricultural company in the Canary Islands. The constitution of the union is signed by owners and tenants of properties located in Villa de La Orotava, Puerto de la Cruz, Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla, Villa de Icod, La Guancha, Garachico, Los Silos and Buenavista and had The purposes are the acquisition of fertilizers, plants, seeds, animals and other elements of agricultural production, sale and export of crop products, and construction and application of works specific to agriculture and derived or auxiliary industries, as well as the acquisition of machines and implements necessary for cultivation and exploitation. The Board of Directors at that time was chaired by Fernando Méndez and Lion Vegetable garden. This initiative grew until it covered the entire commercial chain with the creation of its own transport fleet for maritime trade. After the export difficulties as a result of the First World War came more prosperous periods. Other markets such as the German and French markets were opened, apart from the British, affected by the influence of American bananas, and the La Vera packaging stores were built in Puerto de la Cruz and Garachico.

Years later, in 1946, the SANT would create the first agricultural Cooperative together with the Union of Harvesters and the FAST, created in 1937 and made up of the members of the other two entities. After many obstacles that came later with the Civil War, repercussions of World War II, etc., the FAST is still standing and with frenetic activity, a reference in the banana sector of the Canary Islands that has not stopped modernizing.

Although FAST is known, above all, as a producer and distributor of bananas, it is not the only fruit it grows. In its commitment to diversification, today it brings together around 115 fruits and vegetables, of which more than 70 are grown on the Islands. Among them, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, onions, tropical pineapples, avocados, potatoes, mangoes and papayas, in addition to a commitment to organic production. It is the largest ripening plant in the Canary Islands with a production of more than 22 million kilos of bananas, of which 65 percent are sent to the Peninsula and more than four million production of other varieties.

Of those 23 farmers who founded the union, today there are 300, with more than 160 employees directly and indirectly. One of the people who best knows the insides of this great company in Victoria Sosa San Milla, the oldest in that house where she dedicated no less than 44 years of working life. She started at just 16 years old as an administrative apprentice and a year later she was already an assistant, until she became treasurer. Toya, as she is better known, had to leave her high school studies due to the family’s financial needs and had several job offers. employment, one of them at Banco de Crédito, which he resigned because FAST offered him six extra payments and better working conditions. She has no regrets, because he has had stability and well-being for her and her family “that I wouldn’t change for anything in the world.”

For her, one of the most important characteristics that has made FAST a successful company over time has been its ability to adapt to changes with the different forms of marketing that have been imposed, new markets, new forms of pack, etc. «It has known how to modernize and this process of change has also known how to transmit it to the workers. I, without going any further, have had to learn new ways of doing my work with technological advances. I started with a manual machine to encode associates’ files and then I had to learn how to use the computer. Throughout this learning process I have felt supported by the company and with effort I learned how to do it,” Victoria tells us, who adds as another success the good management of the presidents who have passed through FAST, including her current manager.

The way in which FAST has managed all the surplus production is something that Victoria also wants to highlight, due to the solidarity it has shown when donating all the fruit that cannot be marketed to social entities and different NGOs with which Collaborate so as not to waste any pieces. “Its presence at sporting events is also a way to highlight a product so closely linked to our land and traditions that it has generated and continues to generate jobs.”

As an anecdote, he remembers how he had to dress to go to work, always wearing a skirt and with his arms hidden. Those were other times when there was perhaps greater modesty towards the company, giving away hours of work when necessary out of responsibility for a job well done.

In this context, it is worth highlighting the fundamental role of cooperativism and, specifically, of companies of this type dedicated to agri-food, since they help consolidate agricultural territory on the Island, articulate the agri-food sector of the Canary Islands and the economy in its midst. rural. The backbone of this company focuses on a model based on sustainable, social and human, institutional and cultural, and also economic development that has been analyzed through a study on the impact of this model on our territory. This work, carried out by a team from the Caja Siete Chair of Social and Cooperative Economy of the ULL showed the value generated by FAST and how decisive the company is in the economic development of the Island, multiplying by 15 each euro allocated socially. This result was presented in Bucharest in 2019 as an international successful study. Therefore, betting on the social economy is the great bet since it allows you to operate vertically throughout the food chain, complementing agricultural production with agri-food transformation and commercial distribution, allowing you to gain competitiveness and generate added value for your customers. partners. Not in vain has FAST once again broken a sales record, placing it at number one in sales in the Canary Islands.

But perhaps the most important value, as is the case in almost all companies, is human capital. People like Victoria are the ones who make it possible to get here. They are the center along with suppliers, clients and society, in general. We maintain agreements with the third social sector for the training and employment of the most vulnerable people, actively collaborating to end social exclusion.

Since last March, Leopoldo Cloguen has been the president of this entity. He is, without a doubt, the person who has best defended the interests of the sector both locally and internationally. As a founding member of the Association of European Banana Producers (APEB), where he held the presidency from its creation in 1989 until December 2015, he highlighted his role as main negotiator before the European Communities representing the Canary Islands and with Guadeloupe, Martinique. and Madeira, for the creation of the banana CMO, in 1993; and the incorporation of the community banana to the POSEI program in 2007 to the present. Founder of the Association of Banana Producers Organizations of the Canary Islands (Asprocan), where he held the presidency from 1995 to 2000, he was also president of the Coplaca Banana Producers Organization from 1992 to 1996. Between 1993 and 2008 he was president founder of the fruit and vegetable marketing company Eurobanancanarias SA. In the Canary Islands, he especially highlighted the work he carried out as president of the Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Asaga) from 1985 to 1992, from where he actively participated in the constitution of the first Specific Options Program for the Canary Islands (Poseican).

To conclude, I return to the beginning of this report, because above distinctions about who owns the Island’s engine, what is important is the place that each piece occupies so that the engine starts the first time and does not stall. I leave it there.

Toya dedicated 44 years of her life to working in the agricultural cooperative, initially focused on packaging and exporting bananas.