Out-of-control forest fires that have destroyed huge swathes of land in the Spanish island of La Palma have to date only affected a small area of production, according to a leading association.
Between 1,500ha and 2,000ha of forest land on the island, which is in Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago, have reportedly been destroyed by the fires – a situation which is being complicated by high temperatures and winds of up to 70km per hour.
However, Enrique Alvarez, president of Canarian banana producers’ association Asprocan, told Fruitnet that growers on the island had so far been unaffected, with the exception of a small production area located closer to the fires.
Mr Alvarez said that one banana plantation in the south of the island, which he described as a “small parcel of land”, had been damaged by the wild fires, although he said that precise information was not yet available on the extent of the destruction.
In general, the Asprocan president said that producers on La Palma had not experienced any damage as a result of the fires as most of the island’s banana production is located in coastal regions, away from the main fire-hit areas.
“Producers are not concerned at the moment because the fires are in the high lying areas of the island, but obviously they are waiting to see what will happen,” he said.
The fires in La Palma are the latest in a series of such events to have affected large areas of Spain in recent weeks, which are reported to have devastated 74,000ha of forest across the country this year, 34,000ha more than during 2008.
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