Border restrictions established by European countries to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) risk leaving the continent's farming sector with a drastic shortfall of workers, Secretary General of the pan-EU farmers association COPA-COGECA Pekka Pesonen told the EURACTIV portal on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2020) Border restrictions established by European countries to combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) risk leaving the continent's farming sector with a drastic shortfall of workers, Secretary General of the pan-EU farmers association COPA-COGECA Pekka Pesonen told the EURACTIV portal on Wednesday.
Countries across Europe have restricted international air and train travel as part of measures to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further, but these restrictions could impact the continent's agricultural industry as hundreds of thousands of workers will not be allowed to travel, Pesonen stated.
Farmers in Spain and Italy, the two European countries that have been most affected by COVID-19, will face severe challenges, Pesonen said. More than a quarter of Italian food is produced by over 370,000 seasonal workers who travel to the country each year, primarily from Romania, the portal stated, citing the Italian farmers union Coldiretti.
Pesonen expressed his hope that Brussels would implement "special measures ... for agricultural seasonal workers," in light of the ongoing restrictions on population movement, the portal reported.
Border restrictions will also have a severe impact on farming in France and the United Kingdom, as both countries also employ over 100,000 seasonal workers annually, the portal reported.
On Monday, the chair of the European Parliament's agricultural committee, Norbert Lins, sent a letter to EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and Croatia's Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic demanding action to combat the disruption caused to the European Union's farming industry by the COVID-19 outbreak, the portal reported.
As of 09:00 GMT on Wednesday, a total of 182,470 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the EU, countries of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.
