Labour and gender relations in Moroccan strawberry culture

  1. Juana Moreno Nieto
Libro:
Seasonal Workers in Mediterranean Agriculture. The social costs of eating fresh.

Editorial: Routledge

ISBN: 9781138097193

Año de publicación: 2014

Páginas: 199-210

Tipo: Capítulo de Libro

Resumen

Since the beginning of the 1990s, strawberry production in Morocco has significantly developed, most notably within the Loukkos River basin, in the country’s north-west. This production is technology-and labour-intensive, profoundly reliant on foreign investment and geared toward exportation. In fact, strawberry production has generated a dynamic labour market, employing around 20,000 people per season, 90 per cent of them women (Intermón Oxfam, personal information). Although industrial agriculture still has a minority role within the Moroccan context, where family farming is dominant, it is highly relevant considering the prominent place it has been assigned within Morocco’s new agricultural policy, the so-called ‘Green Plan for Morocco’. This plan is in itself a bet on high value-added, export-orientated agriculture, promising that it will be an economic centre for trickle-down effects bringing benefits to all (see Akesbi, this volume). It encourages smaller farms to aggregate around larger producers or agri-food industry units, which in turn are expected to find their way into international trade. As part of this plan, the strawberry sector appears as an example of a ‘success story’ within Moroccan agriculture. It is hence paramount to analyse labour and employment dynamics in order to understand the social consequences arising from this kind of agriculture.