Migrants ‘driving force’ on farms
Immigrants make a significant contribution to the agricultural sector with nearly one in five legal migrants working on farms and a large proportion of illegal immigrants believed to be working the land too, according to a new study. The majority of these migrants come from the Balkans, Africa and Asia and will probably evolve into the «driving force» in farm labor in the future, according to the study led by Haralambos Kassimis of the Agricultural University of Athens. The study examined two municipalities, one in the Peloponnesian prefecture of Ileia and one on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, to demonstrate the level of immigrants’ involvement in local economies. In the municipality of Vouprasia in Ileia – whose economy is driven by the cultivation of vegetables and fruit, particularly strawberries, and wine production – migrants account for 12 percent of the local population. A large proportion of these migrants are employed illegally and paid a pittance, as is also the case in the Spanish region of Andalusia and in parts of California. Earlier this year, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the Peloponnese against the working conditions of migrant farm laborers being paid a few euros a day to work in local greenhouses where temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The study led by Kassimis showed that 60 percent of these migrants are Albanian, 16 percent Bangladeshi, 14 percent Bulgarian and 8 percent Romanian. Half of them are in the country illegally, according to the study. According to sources, local authorities do nothing to help these local workers gain legal status. The situation in the Municipality of Arcadia on Zakynthos is rather different. There 15 percent of the local population are immigrants and 80 percent of these enjoy legal status. Of the Arcadia migrant population, the overwhelming majority (88 percent) are Albanian, with 4 percent from Bulgaria.
