• Field: The field warns that there is no labor to harvest crops

The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, recognized this Wednesday the labor problem for the collection of stone fruits, a campaign that begins in 15 days. The agrarian associations have already warned in recent days that they lack hands to carry out this collection.

The minister has put this labor deficit at between 100,000 and 150,000 workers, although he has said that it is a problem "that not only affects Spain." In France they require about 200,000, in Germany they need 270,000 and in Italy 200,000. Most of these employees "come from other countries", but with the closing of borders this mobility is complicated.

Unlike other agricultural products, the harvesting of fruit and vegetables is not mechanized, they are very manual tasks that require personnel . The regions most affected in this regard are Aragon, Extremadura, Catalonia, La Rioja, Murcia and Navarra.

What is most in danger is the cherry, because it has to be picked by hand and when it touches, you cannot wait another week. The rest of stone fruits are also under threat: nectarines, apricots, peaches ... To this is added that the harvest has been brought forward this year because the month of February was very hot and the fruit matures earlier, so it is harvested it is also before.

Solutions

According to Planas, the Government is talking to agricultural cooperatives and companies to "seek solutions and respond to this need for labor."

Some of these associations raised the possibility that workers from other sectors affected by Ertes (temporary employment regulation files) could join these jobs.

Planas has not specified what are the alternatives on the table. He has said, for example, that in Huelva the collection of red fruits has been possible because the contract has been extended to some 6,000 workers from Morocco who were already in the area working.

"The government will do everything in its power to avoid losing a single fruit and that this is compatible with the mobility restrictions that exist," Planas said at a joint press conference with the transport minister, José Luis Ábalos.

From the agrarian association Coag they point out that in Aragon the harvesting usually generates about 15,000 jobs in a normal campaign, but they do not expect to cover even half. The campaign, for some fruits, begins in 15 days.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Luis Planas
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • France
  • Huelva
  • Italy
  • José Luis Ábalos
  • Morocco

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