According to the Association of Banana Producer Organisations of the Canary Islands (Asprocan), the storms that have hit the islands since 2 March arrived with winds of up to 120 km/hour, causing severe damage to banana crops.
Bad weather affected all the islands, although it was particularly strong in La Palma, especially in the towns of Las Breñas, Villa de Mazo and Puntallana; in Tenerife, where it mostly affected the north west and Buenavista; and in Gran Canaria.
"Around 9,000 plantations have been affected and losses are estimated at over 3 million kilos. Damage has been more severe on infrastructure, especially on greenhouses," assured sources from Asprocan.
It is worth noting that last November an even stronger storm had caused the loss of 10 million kilos. Many plants were lost and a good number of the surviving ones sustained damage to their roots.
However, unlike on previous occasions, "rains did luckily not fall before the wind arrived, so most plants stayed firm on the ground. There was, however, plenty of damage to the leaves," Asprocan informs.
"The plants were already recovering from November's damage with the first high temperatures that announce the spring, but these storms have interrupted all positive progress."
According to Asprocan, the effects of all this will be felt especially in the long term, in the production volumes of December 2013 to March 2014.
