SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 9 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife has put into operation the farm of Las Llanadas, in Los Realejos, the largest farm for the conservation of cold fruit trees in the entire Canary Islands, an action that has made it possible to recover 2.5 hectares of disused land through planting of 790 fruit trees.
In addition, an existing building will be rehabilitated and a module will be created to carry out training activities with young farmers.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín; the Island Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla; the Minister of Natural Environment and Security, Isabel García; and the insular director of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cayetano Silva, visited the farm this Monday, to which the insular corporation will allocate, between 2022 and 2025, an investment of 1.1 million euros and which intends to serve as a genetic bank for preserve the unique and typical varieties of the island, as well as a space for demonstration, research and training.
Pedro Martín explained that “with Las Llanadas, Tenerife recovers unused agricultural land and brings together more than 100 varieties of apple, pear and plum trees that are exclusive to the island.”
In this sense, he pointed out that “the intention is that the most productive species can be made available to farmers once tested, preventing this part of the natural heritage from being lost.”
The island president also explained that they have allocated a total of 643,694 euros to the conditioning of the farm, the installation of a localized irrigation system, the rethinking and planting of trees and maintenance expenses until 2025.
To these are added another 463,992 euros with which the rehabilitation of the existing annex building will begin this year to create “not only a storage space, but a training classroom to continue promoting the professionalization of young farmers” .
MORE THAN 500,000 EUROS IN FIELD DAMS
For his part, the insular Councilor for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Javier Parrilla, points out that “this action is part of the strategy that began at the beginning of the mandate for the recovery of agricultural spaces on the island, among which finds the start-up of the Presas del Campo farm, to which more than half a million euros will be allocated”.
Specifically, 368 apple trees or patterns for apple trees have been planted, of 58 varieties collected in Tenerife, of which 33 are unique varieties of the island.
To these are added 356 pear trees or patterns for pear trees, of which 71 are of unique varieties on the island; 39 plum trees or plum trees and another 27 apple or pear trees on the slopes or edges of plots.
This is the largest farm for the conservation of cold fruit trees in the entire Canary Islands.
In it, the Center for the Conservation of Agricultural Biodiversity of Tenerife (CCBAT) conserves and carries out studies on pipe fruit trees.
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”, explains Parrilla.
The farm, whose varieties have been distributed according to their genetic closeness, has two other plots in an agricultural area, one for the multiplication of orthodox seeds with high cold requirements and another for the multiplication of other vegetatively reproduced crops, such as potatoes and garlic
