The majority of Chilean fruit producers face a big shortage of workers
A new survey by the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile (Fedefruta) indicates more than half of fruit producers have workers shortages of between 50% and 70%.
“The fruit growers who are in harvest at the moment, are in this range mostly,” Jorge Valenzuela, president of Fedefruta, said in the release. “If this situation continues when we reach September, we will have a deficit of more than 150,000 workers for critical tasks.”
The survey, answered by 557 fruit companies, also indicates that the Maule Region is where the greatest deficit of workers is observed, with an average of 52%, according to the release.
Almost half of the respondents said that, due to the difficulty of having enough workers, the average salary supply has had to increase by between 20% and 30%, and almost 28%, according to the release.
The situation is particularly complex in the Coquimbo Region, the release said. There the average wages increased 50% but the shortage of workers was still significant.
“In this area they had to leave fruit unharvested, which means a lost job of the whole year,” Valenzuela said in the release.
In the central area, the primary work now is pruning grape and tree fruit. Still the shortage there was nearly 50%, according to the release.
The producers were asked about the reasons why it has taken them these months to have a sufficient number of people for agricultural work. More than 90% said that “workers fear losing their state support if they sign an employment contract.”
Fedefruta believes that it is key to design a campaign to make the population understand that they can work, without giving up those benefits during the pandemic, according to the release.
Thirty-six percent of grower said the reason for the lack of foreign workers related to the closure of borders by the health alert, according to the release. In addition, 28% of growers said some workers “cannot leave their homes because they must take care of their children, who cannot go to classes.”
It is important that underage students can return to classes as soon as possible, when the situation permits, Valenzuela said in the released.
Some 20.3% of growers said that there are workers and families who are afraid of getting infected, “so it is essential to continue advancing in vaccination plans in rural areas of the country.” Valenzuela said in the release.
Nearly half of growers (49%) estimate that, if the situation is maintained between now and Chile’s summer fruit period, they will be forced to curtail harvest by 20% and 30% and 23% of growers estimated their harvest loss could top 40%.
“If we don’t have people, the fruit is going to start rotting and we’re going to have many more complications,” Valenzuela said in the release.