Banana farmers lose livelihoods as lava devours La Palma

Antonio Álvarez lost his home and two business

LAS MANCHAS DE ABAJO, Canary Islands -- His home went first. Then the house his father built. Then the lottery stand and hardware store he owned succumbed.

Lastly, Antonio Álvarez had to watch as lava from a volcanic eruption slowly devoured the remaining pillar of his family’s wealth: the dozen acres he dedicated to growing the Canary Island banana that for generations has provided the agricultural lifeblood of the Atlantic Ocean archipelago.

“My father always told me ‘don’t make the house too big, it won’t make you money; invest in banana! The bananas will give you a house.' And it’s true,” Álvarez said. “When I filmed (the lava destroying) my father’s house, it was seeing him die all over again. That house was a part of him.”

Álvarez, 54, is one of thousands of farmers and workers on Spain’s La Palma island whose livelihoods have been put in jeopardy by the destruction wrecked by volcano that is still going strong six weeks after the ground first broke open on Sept. 19.