The government chaired by the socialist Pedro Sanchez boasts of “empowering” immigrant women by picking strawberries in exchange for minimum wage. It involves 250 Moroccan women who arrive in Spain through one of the circular migrationThis is the initiative that the President of the Government defended during his three-day international tour of Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal to put an end to the migratory chaos that Spain is suffering.
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration focuses on circular migration, which Sánchez defends to solve the problem of migratory chaos. From the portfolio he leads Elma Saiz Regular immigration is defended as “one of the essential axes” of the Government’s policy. And this is described as a strengthening of “relations with our partner countries to guarantee regular, orderly and safe migration.”
One of these projects is WafiraThis is a circular migration plan between Spain and Morocco aimed at bringing 250 Moroccan women to pick strawberries in Huelva in exchange for the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI), set at 1,134 euros, or 53.71 euros per day.
The salary for these jobs, according to the collective agreement of the province of Huelva in 2024, is, for a strawberry picker, 47.08 euros, but they receive a supplement to reach the minimum wage of 10.87 euros per day. In total, they will receive 57.95 euros per day, practically the minimum wage. Paradoxically, the word WafiraThe name of the project means “abundance” in Arabic.
Despite the low income that Moroccan seasonal workers are said to receive, it is argued that one of the objectives of this circular migration plan is to “empower seasonal workers.” In addition, its aim is to promote “legal, orderly and safe migration” and to “generate entrepreneurship in rural areas of Morocco.”
First, 50 Moroccan women who were part of the first group. Then another 200 people arrived to pick strawberries in Huelva. All of them had to go through three different phases:
- Preparatory phase. First, participants are selected and informed of the transfer to Spain.
- Mobility phase. In this second part, workers are trained to create a business plan once the training is completed.
- Return phaseThe top 50 returned first, then the remaining 200, throughout the summer of 2023.
Training for immigrants
The government claims that this project helps immigrant women because, in addition to offering them work, it “strengthens their capacities.” “The project plans to offer them continuous training, both during their stay in Spain and after their return to Morocco,” explains the website of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
The goal of these trainings is for the 250 women to “have theoretical and practical knowledge for the creation and management of business plans” to “optimize their chances of success”. Upon their return to Morocco, they will benefit from “support and monitoring adapted to the reality on the ground”. In other words, you will receive more training and help for your own business.
The program explains that the intention is to carry out “the training and coaching of seasonal women who come every year from Morocco to Spain to harvest berries, so that upon their return to Morocco, they can undertake and implement income-generating activities.”
The project benefits from the support of several organizations, such as the International Labor Organization, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Moroccan Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills and the agri-food cooperatives of Andalusia.
The arrival of these immigrants responds to the need that exists, according to the government, of 200,000 to 250,000 foreign workers per year until 2050. An amount that is essential, in the eyes of the Executive, to “support the welfare state.” All this while unemployment in our country affects 2.5 million people, according to official data, three million if we take into account the unemployed that the Ministry of Labor does not count.
