05/11/2007 2:00:33 pm
Going Bananas. A striking sight for a visitor arriving by plane to Tenerife are all the banana plantations. Quite visibly, the bananas need lots of special treatment to be cultivated there - and still they get quite small.

Bananas grow naturally in the tropical parts of the planet. Tenerife is part of the subtropical. So why are all the plantations there - providing lots of small bananas? Two answers: Tariffs and subsidies.

Instead of importing all bananas from countries with the best conditions to grow them, Europe has a protectionist trade and agriculture policy. And we all lose; tax-payers, consumers, Tenerife workers and banana producers in other countries.