Circular migration in a time of crisis: Eastern European and African women in the agricultural sector of Huelva (Spain)

Abstract

This article, which is framed within the new European policies on circular migration and the quota systems established in Spain for the recruitment of workers in sending countries, examines the processes of labour and ethnic substitution of workers that take place in the province of Huelva (Spain) during the strawberry harvest season. We use a plural methodology to analyse data collected from several surveys, focus groups, interviews with experts, local press and statistical data from a period beginning in 1999. We find that, compared to other agricultural scenarios in Spain, the last decade was characterised by a progressive substitution and feminisation of agricultural labour. In sum, while Moroccan men replaced Spanish workers in a first instance, this process was followed by Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and later African women who substituted Moroccan men in the strawberry fields, thus starting the feminisation process. Following the new enlargement of the European Union, a new Aeneas Programme for recruiting workers was implemented with the support of new European policies to promote circular migration, and farmers began hiring Moroccan women. A pilot programme was also developed to hire Senegalese women. In this article we explain the process in the context of the international economic crisis, and examine the lights and shadows that play a role in the story. The return of Spanish labourers to agriculture in a time of crisis time poses new questions for the future of migratory policies in this area, especially when regulated through circular migration. Our results can be useful for other fields as well as for policymakers due to their policy implications.