Farmer Jack Imperial, 49, poses for a portrait in his pineapple plantation covered with ash from the erupting Taal Volcano, in Tagaytay, Philippines, January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Adrian Portugal
TAGAYTAY, Philippines (Reuters) - Farmer Jack Imperial woke to a picture of devastation after ash spewed from a volcano in the Philippines - his verdant green pineapple field had been transformed to a dirty dark grey.
Imperial said his chances of salvaging produce from his 1-hectare (2.5-acre) farm were small and, in any case, there was no one to sell them to with tourists avoiding the Tagaytay area on the archipelago's biggest island Luzon, 32 km (20 miles) from the Taal volcano.
