More Moroccan women headed for Spanish farms in 2008

13/12/2007

Spain announces plan to boost farm worker permit program for Moroccan women. The agricultural workers say the seasonal employment pay makes it worthwhile to leave their families behind in Morocco for three months.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 13/12/07

[Sarah Touahri] Seasonal workers register for permits to work on Spanish farms.

Spain will increase the number of Moroccan seasonal workers within its borders. In 2008, some 11,127 Moroccan women will head for work on Spanish farms, compared with 1,700 in 2005 and 4,600 in 2007. Selection of applicants will continue until December 12th in Fez, Mohammedia, Agadir and Dakhla. The women will mainly be picking strawberries.

Aged between 18 and 40, the candidates must have experience in the agricultural sector, be in good shape physically and have dependent children. A medical examination is compulsory. If accepted, applicants will leave for Spain with contracts of up to three months, and must promise to return to Morocco at the end of the contract period. They may re-apply each time the programme is organised.

Morocco's National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC) is processing the applications and will conduct the selection process. Mohamed Chbaâtou, regional director for ANAPEC in Fez, said the agency is currently running a campaign to inform the women of their rights and responsibilities, and to help them through the administrative process and pre-selection.

Halima Boussaid is one of this year's applicants. She already worked in Spain last year, and hopes to return there to help support her family. "I have a two-year-old daughter, and I’ve always worked in the fields. In Spain, you can earn more money than in Morocco, which enables me to help my husband, who also works on a farm," she said.

Benefiting from free accommodation and transport, the farm workers will earn 33 euros for a daily six-and-a-half-hour shift, plus 6 euros for each additional hour.

One applicant, El Batoul Hamzaoui, said the salary for three months in Spain is the equivalent of a whole year’s wages in Morocco. "I hope I’ll be successful. I’m accustomed to work, and it would be better to leave the family for three months to gain more money than to work hard all year long near my children," she declared.

Alfredo Ramos Moreno, secretary-general for work and social affairs at the Spanish embassy, said that in the future, satisfied employers will be able to contact the workers directly without having to go through ANAPEC.

The Spanish government is encouraged by the rate of return obtained thus far. More than 90% of seasonal workers returned to Morocco at the end of the contract in 2007, compared with just 50% in 2006. Selection criteria have grown increasingly strict; last year the condition of having dependent children was added as an additional measure to ensure the workers' return.

The operation is one element of a partnership linking Morocco with Andalusian authorities to recruit seasonal workers from Morocco.

This "ethical seasonal immigration management" programme, agreed for 2004-2008, forms part of a European programme, AENEAS, to provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries covering immigration and asylum. The European Union is providing 80% of the financing for the project, which aims to reduce illegal immigration by tightening control over population movement.