A few years ago it was a successful economic sector, but now tomato cultivation in the south of Tenerife is in a crisis. The export figures have gone down considerably and hundreds of jobs have been lost, reports the website wochenblatt.es.
The tomato growers didn't just have to battle unfavourable weather and plagues in recent years, politics also made it more difficult for them. For instance subsidies for transport to the mainland or abroad were removed. Various growers were forced to shut down their company and fire employees.
Shortly after the millennium, growers in the Southwest of Tenerife still harvested 40 million kilos of tomatoes and over 130,000 tones of tomatoes were exported to various countries. Nowadays only one million kilos is produced and export is hardly possible due to high transport costs. Due to this difficult situation, growers, experts and politicians are looking for alternatives to lead the sector to a better future. For instance Esteban Gonzales, councillor for Agriculture for Granadills de Abona, proposed setting up factories for producing tomato sauce and ketchup. His colleague in Arico, Manuel Marrero, wants to convince the growers to change their course and grow animal fodder instead of tomatoes. Pedro Martin, mayor of Guía de Isaro, on the other hand, wants the tomato growers to offer their products to the hotels on the Canary Islands, which have been using imported tomatoes so far.
Now the politicians of the Canary Islands are realising the gravity of the situation. The regional parliament recently turned to the central government and the European Commission with the request for aid doe the tomato sector on the Canary Islands, as the sector that offers work for 15,000 people would otherwise end.
