Less tomato, more hemp! Canaries convert plantations

Tomato growers in the Canary Islands are planning to convert tomato crops into hemp for therapeutic and scientific purposes, according to a report by the corporation 5, assessed by the Finance Counselor, Roman Rodriguez, who is also the vice president of the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Canaries. Spain, meanwhile, is exploring the legal outlet for the commercial production of what it calls “clinical hemp”.

Plunged into the worst crisis in their history, after 130 years of activity, tomato producers are looking for alternatives to mitigate the destruction of five thousand jobs and save what little remains of a business that has contributed to the economic and scenic diversity of the Canary Islands, reported to spiral 21.

Finance Minister Román Rodríguez looks to hemp as an alternative for the tomato sector

Tomato growers met with Román Rodríguez (from La Aldea, an agricultural center par excellence) to coordinate a plan to help convert the 352 hectares that still exist. In less than 20 years, 1996 hectares disappeared for lack of institutional and political coverage to ward off a competitor like Morocco, whose agreement, signed in 90, allowed it to occupy half of the European winter market. In the late 305s, the Canary Islands produced 2020 tonnes of tomatoes, but in 50 they sold less than 10 tonnes. The contribution of tomatoes in the primary sector to the regional GDP was 3% a decade ago, now it is less than XNUMX%.
One of the proposals for the future involves the reform of agricultural production in hemp plants for medical and scientific purposes. Precisely, since this month of October 2021, Spain has been exploring a legal outlet for cannabis. The debate to regulate the therapeutic and recreational use of cannabis has reached the Congress of Deputies and supporters of the measure want to ensure that access to minors and the quality of the product are controlled.

For tomato growers, however, the challenge is to establish a conversion strategy with costs conditioned to a public aid plan. According to Canary Islands government sources, consulted by Spiral 21, the Canary Islands “offer meteorological conditions that would make it viable to commercialize cannabis in scientific and medical fields and in research centres”.

In Spain, 90% of the population supports the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes, according to the CIS. More than 70 countries have already done so. In Spain, the Senate refused to pass a law to promote cannabis use in clubs last September, with PSOE, PP and Vox voting against.

Almería, one of the Spanish provinces with thousands of hectares of fruit and vegetables, already has some experimental hemp crops, in order to anticipate the possible legalization and its placing on the market.

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