The United Kingdom is planning to grant 45,000 seasonal visas in 2024 to migrants who will work in agriculture. At a meeting with farmers, prime minister Rishi Sunak said that number could be increased by 10,000 if needed. This appears to contradict recent statements from Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Spain will take in around 100 people from Senegal to work on its farms as of April. The migrant workers are expected to work for a limited time before returning home.
Two migrants, a man and a woman of African origin, died in the night of Sunday (January 23) in the southern province of Foggia of carbon monoxide inhalation emitted by a brazier lit to keep them warm at night.
Italian authorities have arrested 10 people in Caltanissetta, Sicily, on charges of exploiting foreign farmworkers who were allegedly forced to work extenuating shifts for less than four euros per hour.
Calabria has allocated €10 million to renovate a former industrial complex and to create an environmentally sustainable 'village' for non-EU workers. Many migrants in the region are currently living in precarious housing conditions.
The soft fruit season in the UK is already underway. But this year, due to Brexit and the war in Ukraine, farmers had to look for workers from Indonesia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan instead of Ukraine and the EU.
Nearly 30% of people working in agriculture in Italy are migrants and refugees, according to Italian farmers confederation Coldiretti. While most of them are farmworkers, there are reportedly 17,000 foreigners who own agricultural businesses in Italy too.
The growing demand for cheap labor in Portugal has created opportunities for migrant workers. But it has also increased the risks of exploitation and human trafficking. A group of experts has called on Portuguese authorities to do more to tackle the problem.
The Italian trade union FLAI CGIL has spoken out against seasonal migrant workers in the Puglia region allegedly paying a "stay tax" of one euro per day to live in a "guesthouse that seems more of a makeshift refugee camp."
Italian farmers' association Coldiretti warns that Italy needs at least 100,000 seasonal migrant farmworkers to guarantee the fruit and vegetable harvest during the upcoming summer season.
Italian authorities have arrested a 30-year-old Moroccan citizen living in the Veneto city of Padua for allegedly exploiting 23 migrant workers of African origin. The migrants worked in the fields in shifts of up to 15 hours, investigators said.
Seasonal workers from Nepal have been illegally charged fees to pick fruit and vegetables in the UK, an investigation has found.