For the skinny dog, everything is fleas. The year of agriculture in the province of Alicante can be described in this way, with a general decline in all harvests and serious marketing problems due to low prices and competition from third countries. Well, that perfect storm already known has added a new element that has only made things worse. And the complex context the industry is in has also had a significant impact on employment. approximately 3,300 fewer contract formalization points than last yearThis represents an 11.1% decrease. Products such as citrus and cherries are the products that destroy the most labor.
Provincial agriculture as a whole is plunged into the worst campaign in memory, with economic losses exceeding 200m euros. Factors such as meteorological adversities caused by climate change, increased costs and unfair competition in most cases have practically led to negative consequences from other countries. all products are affected in some way.
The reason why citrus is also one of the most common crops is because they accounted for most of the losses. Firstly Heavy fruit flow from South AfricaThen, as a result of the war in Ukraine, a large part of the Vega Baja harvest was not harvested due to the deterioration of the European market for goods from Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Morocco and the fall in prices.
Cherry, for its part, ties one catastrophic campaign after another, due to the rainy season recorded at full bloom time preventing proper pollination. Loquats, peaches, and plums were also damaged for the same reason.
To this we must add the very damaged almond cultivation. tiger plague, drought and xylellaThe low caliber reached by the Camp d’Elx figs or the previously announced devastating olive campaign due to the defoliation of the trees as a result of the spring rains and humidity.
Well, these successive misfortunes had such an impact on agricultural employment in the province that hiring in the first half of the year fell 11.1% to 26,500.
José Vicente Andreu, president of Asaja Alicante and orange producer in Vega Baja, points out that this decline is “a true reflection of what has happened in Alicante agriculture this year. It has consequences. In the citrus specific example, Andreu refers to the competitive problems and low prices recorded in the second part of the campaign.” and that’s ” many oranges and tangerines will remain unselected. This has obviously resulted in numerous salary losses, both in harvesting and in storage and transportation.”
Hilario Calabuig, Chairman of Cerezas Montaña de Alicante Origin Sect, with similar expressions, “ours is a very labor-intensive sector at harvest time, so this year has been very low, It would be possible to work only 40% of the days the campaign lasted.Calabuig points out that this wage loss is also reflected in the shops and workplaces of the towns in the production region, complaining that “because there is less money to spend”.
Carles Peris, general secretary of La Unió, refers not only to jobs lost as a result of all these factors, but also to possible farm losses. In his words, “people are so helpless and everything possible should be done so that they get fair prices for their products, which is not happening right now”.
Labor reform also impacts the decline
Labor reform supporting permanent contracts also affects the registration of statistically fewer contracts in the sector. According to a study by human resources firm Randstad, one in four workers who join the agricultural sector do so indefinitely. In fact, currently this modality represents 25.8%, compared to just 4.3% last year. In this way, workers who were previously hired temporarily on various occasions now stay at work longer. In any case, the main reason is that the production in the fields is lower, which means that not much labor is needed.