Recruitment in origin of moroccan seasonal workers for the spanish croplands as an experience of codevelopment

Abstract

This research looks into the codevelopment which has been going on in the territories and societies located on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar, with enormous contrasts in terms of wealth and social welfare. On the coast of the province of Huelva, Spain, there is a thriving agriculture linked to the strawberry and other berries, very intensive in the use of labour and to which thousands of day labourers arrive in times of harvesting and planting. Prominent among them are the Moroccan farm-hand, mainly constituted by the women who come from several rural areas. Therefore, our objective is to analyse the codevelopment currently generated in both territories. So, we have taken into account the framework of the current migration policies of Spain and the European Union, although the local authorities are the players that make this possible, so we must reach this scale.

The main methodological tool of this research has been a series of isurveys of a representative sample of the Moroccan female seasonal workers collective who came to work at various farms in the province of Huelva.