The cultivated area in Tenerife has been decreasing since 2008, despite the crisis, but the island has continued to strongly lead an increasingly more rooted and prestigious alternative in this and other subsectors: ecology. Tenerife's organic farming leads by far the regional statistics, in which the latest data analyzed, concerning 2010, has Nivaria with 57% of these crops, far greater than Gran Canaria's 13% or Fuerteventura's 12%.
That 57% means a total of 578.3 hectares, most of which Tenerife devotes to the vineyard (370.8). At a distant second are the vegetables and tubers (89.4), the banana and other subtropical crops (with 72.5), temperate fruit trees (22.1), aromatic and medicinal plants (11.5) citrus fruit trees (8.1) and other crops (4).
If the gap to Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura is very considerable, it is even bigger with La Palma, which represents 9% of the Archipelago’s organic farming, Lanzarote and El Hierro's 4% and La Gomera's 1%. The difference is explained in part by Tenerife's climatic characteristics and bigger agricultural surface, of course, though a key component is the real commitment to alternative and ecological agriculture present in the island and lacking in others.
The data is provided to the Regional Council of Agriculture by the Canarian Institute of Food Quality and does not account for pastures, fallow area, isolated from fruit trees feet and the terrain that is technically considered as "uncultivable".
If we look at the evolution of data ever since organic area was analyzed, Tenerife's leadership in this area is confirmed. However, there have been clear fluctuations throughout the years, as such, 2010’s 57% is well above the 49% achieved in 2008 and lower than 2006's 69%, the record in this statistic.
In 2008, Gran Canaria had 17%, while El Hierro accounted for 8%, and Fuerteventura and La Palma had the same percentages as in 2010, 12 and 9% respectively.
In 2006, by contrast, Fuerteventura only represented 4%, La Palma, 6%, El Hierro, 3%, La Gomera, 2%, and Lanzarote 1%. Gran Canaria, meanwhile, 15%. The same percentage of 2010 relative to Tenerife happened seven years before (2003), in which El Hierro stands out with 21%. 2005 was very similar with 56%, 16% for Gran Canaria, 12% for El Hierro, 8% for La Palma, and 5% at Fuerteventura.
In 2004, Tenerife represented 52% of the total while in 2002 it was 61%. Throughout this time, as in conventional agriculture, there has been a diversification of crops and vine hectares have decreased.
Source: Eldia