Authorities from Costa Rica and Nicaragua renewed this past week an agreement that will allow the temporary entry of Nicaraguan agricultural workers to harvest various crops on Costa Rican soil.
The Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture reported that the agreement, in force since 2020, was renewed during a meeting in the town of Peñas Blancas, the border between the two countries, with the presence of officials from the Ministries of Agriculture and Migration institutions.
A regular, orderly and safe migration
“During the meeting, the requirements expressed by agricultural sectors of Costa Rica in relation to the harvesting of various crops, and the procedures to guarantee a regular, orderly and safe migration of Nicaraguan labor, who would be hired on a temporary basis, were analyzed” says an official statement.
Through the 2020 agreement, 6,638 Nicaraguans entered Costa Rica between November of that year and April 2021, who worked in coffee, sugarcane, teak, palm, melon, watermelon and orange crops.
Stricter sanitary controls and protocols
Historically, the Nicaraguan workforce has moved to Costa Rica to work in the collection of stationary crops, but in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities signed the agreement in order to establish stricter sanitary controls and protocols.
In accordance with the binational agreement, the Government of Costa Rica will ensure human, labor, health, social security, and occupational hygiene and safety rights, in accordance with Costa Rican legislation.
To facilitate and guarantee compliance with this agreement, a binational coordination committee was established that will be made up of high-level delegates from the ministries of Agriculture and Livestockn , Labor, Health, Government, and Foreign Relations of both countries.
This binational committee will establish the specific administrative and operational procedures for the execution of the agreement, which will be valid for seven months, with the possibility of an extension for a similar period.
