The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands has transferred 70 million euros to banana producers on the islands, corresponding to 50% of the total annual direct aid that the European Union allocates to these farmers, which amounts to 141.1 million euros. This subsidy, part of the Posei program since 2007, seeks to compensate local harvesters for the loss of income, offering financial support that stands out from other direct aid within the same Posei framework applied to different agricultural activities in the region.
The Canary Islands, which leads banana production in the EU's outermost regions, benefits from this public support, which also extends, under different conditions, to other Community banana producers in these regions. Producers eagerly awaited this 50% payment of the 2024 aid, mainly because prices were very bad in 2023 and 2024 (they were only remunerative in 3 out of 22 months, until last October). As a result, the average settlements obtained by the island banana growers after selling their goods in the Peninsula, almost the only market for the Canarian fruit, stood at 0.40-0.45 euros per kilo (without deducting the agricultural production costs and without considering the direct aid from the EU).
The second half of the aid is expected before 30 June 2025, as the EU has committed to support producers with 141.1 million euros per year, distributed in two payments. The average aid per kilo stands at around 0.30 euros, adjusted according to the marketed production, which exceeded 420 million kilos a year in 2023 and 2024. Projections for 2024 indicated a production of 450 million kilos before the windstorm a week ago. In 2023, the year with the largest historical supply of fruit on the islands, production reached 467 million kilos.
If Agroseguro confirms that the windstorm caused producers, especially in the islands of La Palma, Tenerife, La Gomera, and El Hierro to lose 20 million kilos of fruit, the final marketed production in 2024 could decrease. The entire Canary Island banana crop is insured against the main inclement weather events.
Source: eldiario.es