The Association of Strawberry Producers and Exporters of Huelva, Freshuelva, has incorporated 46 workers from Mauritania into its member companies. The workers are already in the province and have joined the current strawberry campaign as part of a circular migration pilot project developed jointly by the governments of Spain and Mauritania. The program aims to address labor shortages in Huelva's agricultural sector while ensuring full compliance with labor rights and a legally secure recruitment process.
The group arrived under the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding on circular migration, signed on August 27, 2024, by Spain's Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, and the Mauritanian authorities. The agreement was later reaffirmed at the High Level Meeting held on July 16 between both countries and included in the joint declaration adopted at that time.
© Freshuelva
Before traveling to Spain, the workers completed a pre-departure training program organized by the International Organization for Migration. The training focused on labor rights, contractual conditions, and obligations both during their stay in Spain and upon their return to Mauritania. The process was directly supervised in Nouakchott by the Director General for Migration Management, Santiago Yerga Cobos, who highlighted that these programs "promote safe and beneficial labor mobility for both countries of origin and destination."
Freshuelva has welcomed the arrival of this group, underlining its commitment to diversifying countries of origin and reinforcing an origin-based recruitment model that has been operating in the sector for more than two decades.
According to the association, this circular migration system helps ensure the stability of agricultural campaigns, the proper functioning of farms, and the broader socioeconomic development of the province of Huelva. The arrival of the 46 Mauritanian workers adds to other pilot experiences carried out in recent years with different countries, further consolidating a model that combines legal certainty, labor coverage, and forward planning to the benefit of the berry sector and the Huelva region as a whole.
For further information:
Freshuelva
www.freshuelva.es
