• Campo.The government admits that 150,000 workers are missing to harvest the crops
  • Agrarian sector.The field warns that there is no labor to harvest crops

The Government will approve today in the Council of Ministers a Royal Decree with a series of measures to alleviate the lack of labor in the field. Specifically, it will make the hiring of immigrants and the unemployed more flexible so that they can join these jobs and will extend the residence permit to temporary workers who are already here.

The campaign for the collection of stone fruit (peaches, cherries, nectarines ...) begins in a week and between 100,000 and 150,000 people are missing to cover this collection, as recognized by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, last week.

Agrarian organizations have been warning for weeks that this campaign could be spoiled if there are not enough people to carry it out. Unlike other agricultural products, the harvesting of fruit and vegetables is not mechanized, they are very manual tasks that require personnel.

The problem is that the people who usually do these jobs are immigrants who come to our country to do these jobs and then leave. Now, with the mobility restrictions that there are as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, they cannot enter Spain.

Facilities

According to sources in the sector, the package of measures to be approved today seeks to make the hiring of immigrants more flexible and the residence permit will be extended to migrant seasonal workers who are already here in campaigns such as strawberry and red fruit in Huelva.

In his appearance before the media a week ago, Planas did not specify what are the alternatives on the table, but he did talk about this possibility of using "local labor".

He gave as an example the collection of red fruits in Huelva, which, according to the minister himself, has been possible because the contract has been extended to some 6,000 tempras from Morocco who were already in the area working.

Agrarian organizations had warned that, if labor is not added to this collection, there could be a shortage of these fruits in supermarkets, as there will be less supply than the market demands. 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.

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  • Huelva
  • Luis Planas
  • Spain
  • Morocco
  • Stay at home

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