Rabat- Morocco’s Ministry of Labor announced that agricultural workers authorized by Spain to participate in the next agricultural campaign will begin departing in April.
In a statement, the ministry said that 33,452 applications were submitted by farmers by the end of the first phase of registration on Jan. 19. OnAnaly 12,944 were pre-selected for their compliance with the required conditions.
The final selection phase was undertaken from Jan. 29 to Feb.1 by the Regional Agency for Employment Promotion (ANAPEC) of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region in collaboration with the ministry. ANAPEC, Spanish representatives and members of Huelva province agricultural associations managed the pre-selection process in Moroccan cities, including Meknes, Marrakech, Agadir, Oujda and Mechraa Bel Ksiri.
Spain will send a list of the workers selected to ANAPEC to inform them of the upcoming procedure and visa requirements.
Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior will work to facilitate passport renewal procedures, while the Spanish authorities will be in charge of granting work permits to the farmers.
The recruitment of agricultural workers is part of a labor agreement signed between Morocco and Spain on July 25, 2001, said the statement.
In December 2017, the Ministry of Labor received a request from the Spanish embassy for the recruitment of 11,000 workers for the benefit of companies in the province of Huelva. The agricultural workers will mainly work in strawberry, red fruit and citrus farms for the 2018 agricultural season.
