The Spanish province of Huelva has to deal with a large shortage of strawberry pickers.
The strawberry season will begin soon, and only 100 out of 10 thousand additional vacancies are filled, despite the high unemployment rate in the agricultural sector of Andalusia.
In September last year, the agricultural employment agency GEA published about 10 thousand vacancies for picking strawberries, blueberries and gooseberries.
According to Spanish media reports, this year around 19,000 Moroccan seasonal workers will travel to Spain to work with strawberry producers as part of a long-term bilateral agreement between Madrid and Rabat.
This means that despite stories of human rights violations and sexual abuse, the opportunity to work in Spanish strawberry fields continues to attract many Moroccan seasonal female workers.
The number of migrant workers needed for the upcoming season in Andalusia, Spain, testifies to the stable needs of seasonal workers from Morocco. Almost 20 thousand people travel to Spain every year under the agreement.
High rates reflect the importance of the strawberry sector for the Spanish economy, as well as the importance of Moroccan migrant workers in supporting this sector, the Moroccan newspaper Les Inspirations Eco reported earlier today.