Spain Faces Agricultural Labor Shortage as Moroccan Seasonal Workers Depart

In the Huelva region of Andalusia, seasonal workers are lacking for the strawberry harvest. The regional agricultural association reports a 20% drop in last season’s production. The labor shortage due to the coronavirus, which led to the repatriation of a large number of Moroccan seasonal workers, partly explains this situation. In addition, "the additional difficulty of a sharp contraction in consumption of a product that is not a necessity".

Faced with the fait accompli, Alberto Garrocho, president of Freshuelva, indicated that the association will turn to workers from Moldova and Latin American countries like Honduras to "avoid depending on a single alternative, as happened this year with Morocco," he explains. He stresses that the administration "must do its homework when it comes to concluding agreements and specific worker exchange measures," the same source reports.