Spanish media confirmed today, Sunday, that six Moroccan seasonal agricultural workers escaped from a field harvesting asparagus plant in Granada, in the Andalusia region in southern Spain.
The workers belong to one of the last batches of seasonal workers coming from Morocco, part of the bilateral migration agreement between Morocco and Spain.
The six workers were working in an agricultural cooperative called “Agroláchar,” specializing in the production and marketing of food asparagus.
Spanish media highlighted that authorities in Granada, after confirming that the workers had fled, revoked their permits and residency for agricultural work, making them reside irregularly on Spanish soil.
Moroccan workers’ escape from Spanish fields in not new, as many have fled their working harvesting plants to live irregularly in Spain, instead of returning to Morocco after the end of the harvest season.
Despite the existence of strict conditions to guarantee the return of workers to their country of origin, such as having at least one child under the age of 18 in Morocco and that they be married, divorced, or widowed, many forgo their lives in the Kingdom once taken to Spanish fields.
To incentivise Moroccan seasonal workers to return to their country, the Spanish Ministry of Integration, Social Security and Immigration launched, in March 2022, the “Wafira” project, which aims to train 250 female agricultural workers annually to establish their own businesses and provide them with technical and financial support upon their return to Morocco.
More than 15,000 Moroccan workers joined strawberry fields in Spain during the current season, and the number of contracts signed under the program started with 5,000 contracts in 2007, rose to 17,000 in 2009, then decreased to 2,000 between 2012 and 2016, before increasing to 14,750 contracts in 2019.
In 2020, the contract number dropped to 7,083 due to the pandemic, before doubling the next year, reaching 14,000 contracts in 2021.
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