The field is already encountering several problems in the stone fruit harvesting campaign that has already started in some regions of Spain. They had been denouncing the lack of work to collect the fruit for weeks, a problem that, despite the measures approved by the Government to alleviate it, has not been fully resolved, since the majority of those who have signed up are illegal immigrants.

To this is added that, in the areas where harvesting has already begun, farmers report that speculative practices are taking place, and contracts are not being made or the purchase prices of the product are not being established, as required by law.

A few weeks ago, the Government itself recognized that about 150,000 people were missing to cover the collection campaign, which has already started in Murcia and Andalusia and is now beginning in Aragon, La Rioja and Catalonia.

The Executive approved a package of measures to mobilize the unemployed so that they could work in the field without losing their unemployment. But the problem, they explain from Coag, is that most of these workers are illegal immigrants.

Seasonal transfer

From UPA they relativize the problem and explain that the temporeras, most of them Moroccans, are being mobilized, who picked the strawberry and are diverting them to carry out other campaigns. The agrarian associations are collecting job applications and transferring them to farmers who demand labor.

According to Coag, there is still a lack of personnel. They ask that the movement of workers from one community to another be made more flexible, despite the state of alarm. The ministry did allow mobility but between nearby towns. The problem is that with the borders closed, many workers from other countries who come to Spain with an employment contract to make the collection, can no longer do so.

To this is added another problem. From Coag they denounce, like UPA, that "they are not making contracts to farmers or setting prices." The food chain law (which was passed just two months ago) requires intermediaries who buy fruit or any other agri-food product to make contracts with farmers or ranchers. The price paid for the merchandise must be reflected in this contract.

Speculation

However, as reported by the organizations, "it is not being met, and the fruit is being delivered 'as a result'". That is to say: the farmers deliver the product but they are paid a posteriori, and "they don't know when or how much they are going to collect."

"It is returning to speculative practices, trying to start with low prices. Or without fixing a price, and then pay what is on the market. If you do not want to lose what you have collected, you have to go through the ring, because they are perishable products that you cannot store and you have to output it as soon as you pick it up, "they point out from Coag.

To this is added that there is 15% less production than last year and that consumption in homes has increased, despite the fact that in hotels, such as bars and restaurants are closed, less demand is being made. Normally the producer sells the fruit to purchasing centers (they act as intermediaries), to the supermarket chains (with whom they already have agreed agreements) or to wholesalers who go to the markets (Mercabarna, Mercamadrid ...) and sell, in turn , to the greengrocers.

The costs for this collection will grow by 30%, because, in the handling process, which is when the fruit that is not of sufficient quality is discarded and packed in bags or trays, these costs have increased due to the security measures that are have had to implant to prevent contagion from coronavirus. These costs "either pass on to the final price to the consumer or are borne by the producer or shared among them a little," they point out from Coag.

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  • Andalusia
  • Aragon
  • Catalonia
  • Spain
  • Murcia
  • The Rioja

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