Pay the back panels for yellow banana leaves, equipped with a layer of dusty soil that covers its farms on the coast of La Palma. Under blinding sunlight, banana groups are only visible under the heads of trees, which are located together in green lime bouquets.
In late 2021, when the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on the western edge of this island in the Atlantic Ocean, was buried 300 hectares (about 740 acres) of banana trees in ash and destroyed 200, farmers like Mr. Bolidoyo could not do so.
But the Combrie Vega revolution can actually carry some answers to maintain life -long bananas in the future, not only here but elsewhere.
Why did we write this
Cavendish bananas, the most popular type in the world, is exposed to the threat of fungi that has eliminated other varieties. But Tennervi Island may only have conditions to protect it.
The fungi behind the condition known as Wilt Fosarium – or Panama’s disease – threaten bananas all over the world. Some say that fungi, which prevent the flow of water and nutrients to the plant through its roots, can cause the extinction of the famous banana of Cavandish.
But unlike tropical regions such as parts of India and China, where most banana is produced in the world, the semi -tropical climate of the Canary Islands – and the West Coast in La Palma, in particular – provided a path to the resistance to the wilt.
In fact, the volcanic ash, which has regretted the farmers after the Combrie Vega eruption that contains the vital nutrients that protect the plant – can be a banana survival key.
“Tropical crops, such as bananas, grow more slowly and less productive [here] “From orbital places,” says Antonio Mariro, associate professor of agricultural and environmental engineering at La Laguna University in Saint Cristopal de la Laguna, Spain.
Parking gift
This is not the first time that banana cultivation has been under the threat of Panama’s disease. In the fifties of the last century, bananas were swept through the dominant Gros Michel Banana farms at the time, which almost prompted the diversity to extinction.
The market soon turned into Banana Cavandish because of its resistance to the wilt. But the new variables of fungi have appeared, some of which are likely to threaten the cafendish as the original wilting of Gros Michel. Although fungi have been found in some wet areas in the Canary Islands, this alternative is not the most harmful type.
When farmers find wilt, they use competition measures, such as getting rid of the affected soil. But post Volcano, as farmers such as Mr. Polido “virgin soil” will be difficult for fungi to survive.
“Every time there is a volcanic lava flow, it reinstates the time to zero,” says Jesús S. Notario Del Pino, a professor of soil and geology at La Laguna University. The life of banana plants “begins again”.
Part of this logic is clear. But fungi are able to live for 20 years under the soil. And most banana in the world – including La Palma – of monocropy. This means that they are cultivated in huge and dedicated farms that do not grow anything else. All bananas are genetic copies of each other, which makes them easy to produce, but they are subject to pathogens. When wilting reaches, it can spread fiercely.
Volcanic eruptions not only kill fungi, but the volcanic ash from the Komberry Vega eruption renewed the soil with nutrients such as iron and zinc, and reduced the occurrence of bananas, according to Dr. Mariro. Volcanic soil is also rich in potassium, on which bananas depend heavily for growth.
But like most other crops, bananas cannot be grown directly on volcanic soil. It takes decades until the crushing process breaks the hardening lava into fertile ground. Instead, local farmers have to crush volcanic lava well and use them as a pillar before pouring fresh organic materials from other areas on top – a practice they made more than a century ago.
“Otherwise, they just have to wait,” says Mr. Notterio del Pino.
Monocroping risks
Farmers like Fran Garlaz says that even with soil and climate resistant to the Canary Islands, the potential risks that come with Monocrophing are greater than any one disease.
In Ecofinca Platanológicoand Organic farm in the coastal town of Porto Nou, Mr. Garlaz teaches visitors about the benefits of biological diversity. At one end of the site, bananas grow. And the other, a mini forest of suspended chrome and lush vegetable life, devoted to experimentation. About 200 crops grow here.
“The biological diversity is essential,” says Mr. Garlaz. Once the fruits of banana trees come, you die. By planting the pieces next to an existing tree, a new network will grow. “Monocroping is not logical or sustainable.”
But Mr. Garalaz is strange. Despite the efforts of young farmers to diversify crops, nearly half of La Palma is covered with banana farms.
However, even if the Cumbre Vieja volcano has wiped nearly 40 % of the banana production in La Palma, the wilt threat is not far from view, the farmers say here that monocrophing is not a discussion point. At La Palma, Banana Farming offers 10,000 jobs for 85,000 island’s residents. Since the volcanic explosion, most farmers here are trying to return to their feet.
Mr. Polido says he is always planning to rebuild the farm he lost in 2021. In the coming days, workers from his local cooperative plan cut the first batch of bananas that have grown since he destroyed the combi Viga his farm. He says no volcano, nor fungi will object to his way.
“I never thought of stopping,” says Mr. Polido. “This is for our children, but also in honor of our parents and grandparents. It is a matter of pride.”