Farmers despair as volcano ravages La Palma's banana crop

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Spain: 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.

Fruit that was spared the scorching heat has been spoiled by fine particles of hard volcanic dust, which chip away at the banana's skin, leaving it unsuitable for sale.