Spain Prioritizes Moroccan Workers for Agricultural Season Amid COVID Protocols

Spain wants to give Moroccans priority for seasonal work on its agricultural lands. This is a press release from the Spanish Farmers’ Union, relayed by Al Ahdath al Maghribia, which reports on this. It was also decided to form a committee responsible for defining the criteria on the basis of which Spanish farmers can conclude employment contracts with seasonal workers recruited in the various local farms. As criteria, the daily cites the control of the working conditions of the seasonal workers, the health rules applied during their transport from Morocco, as well as the accommodation conditions during their stay on Spanish territory.

The Spanish State Secretariat for Migration has undertaken to facilitate the granting of the necessary work permits to hire Moroccan seasonal workers, in coordination with the relevant Foreign Affairs department.

To recall, last year more than 150,000 seasonal workers were called upon by Spanish farmers. A workforce that should increase considerably for the upcoming agricultural season, due to the ambition of the Spanish authorities to increase their agricultural production in order, on the one hand, to meet the needs of local consumption and, on the other hand, to contribute to the relaunch of the local economy, in a context of economic crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.