The Aridane Valley cannot find housing for its banana-farming seasonal workers

The island's economic engine has nowhere to house its workforce

Canarian banana growing remains the main economic driver of the Aridane Valley, the strip of land running between Los Llanos de Aridane, Tazacorte and El Paso. But sources in the island's farming sector warn that the shortage of affordable housing in the district is making it increasingly difficult to recruit seasonal and permanent workers, many of whom come from outside the island.

Farms turned landlords out of necessity

Faced with a shortage of affordable rentals, several banana plantations in the area have chosen to convert old farm buildings or small dwellings on their own land into housing for their workers, according to primary sector sources. The arrangement eases the problem in part, but it does nothing to address the lack of conventional rental housing in villages such as Tazacorte or in Los Llanos de Aridane itself.

Competition from holiday and residential lets

Property portals tracking the district's market explain that local owners increasingly prefer to put their homes on the short-stay holiday market or into conventional residential lets, both far more profitable than renting to seasonal workers during the banana harvest, which shrinks the housing stock available to the farming sector still further.

Farming organisations call for housing tied to agricultural jobs

Farming organisations on the island have told the Cabildo of La Palma that it needs to look at ways of providing public housing linked to agricultural employment in the Aridane Valley. For now, according to sector sources, the proposal remains under consideration, with no specific measure yet approved.

Non-EU workers, the hardest hit

Sources in the farming sector point out that non-EU workers hired for the banana harvest face the greatest difficulty in securing a conventional rented home, both because of the shortage of supply and because of the reluctance of some landlords. That situation, farming organisations warn, pushes many seasonal workers towards precarious housing or into overcrowding in the few dwellings available on the plantations themselves.

The Cabildo of La Palma, caught between housing and farming

The Cabildo of La Palma acknowledges how hard it is to reconcile two priorities competing for the same land and the same resources: protecting banana cultivation and providing housing for those whose labour sustains it. Sources at the island authority admit that any lasting solution will require coordination between different administrations, possibly including the Government of the Canary Islands, with no clear timetable yet for tackling the problem.