Farmers despair as volcano ravages La Palma's banana crop

Farmer Antonio Brito Alvarez, 65, removes the ash from a banana leaf in his field, which has been affected by the ash from the volcano eruption in the Cumbre Vieja park, at Los Llanos de Aridane on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain September 23, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Spain (Reuters) - In more than 50 years growing bananas on the Spanish island of La Palma, Antonio Brito Alvarez has never seen anything like the devastation wrought by the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which has been spewing out molten rock and ash since Sunday.

"All this is burnt, burnt from the heat and the wind ... The bananas are totally burnt," said Alvarez, 65, picking off charred black fruit from a tree in his small plantation in the agricultural heartland of Los Llanos de Aridane.