Lack of rainfall on the Canary Islands to affect potato cultivation

On Lanzarote - one of the Canary Islands - you can see a rarity in potato cultivation: potatoes are cultivated in black volcanic grit. Contrary to some of the other Canary Islands, Lanzarote is always very dry (14 cm/year - drier than some parts of the Sahara), so potato cultivation on Lanzarote always requires irrigation. However, this is not the case for some of the other Canary Islands

January 10, 2016

Source

laopinion.es / freshplaza

The drought on the Canary Islands will especially hurt the potato sub-sector, according to government sources.

The Councillor of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Water of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, has said that while no data is yet available regarding the impact that the drought is having on the Islands' primary sector, the potato subsector will be the most hurt by the lack of rainfall.

During a press conference, Quintero stated that the islands are suffering "an unusual winter," since it has hardly rained again since the heavy rainfall that was registered in early November.

The Councillor noted that the drought is affecting the primary sector, although he stressed that there are no detailed studies yet about its actual consequences.

Narvay Quintero assured that the potato subsector will be the most affected, as growers have been forced to irrigate the fields, when it is usually enough with rainwater, and this will increase the production costs.