Kenya will send 1,500 farm workers to Israel, they are following the footsteps of Malawi to become the second African country to do so.
This comes after a report of more than 10,000 migrant farm workers, mostly from Thailand left Israel because of the war with Hamas that started in October.
According to Kenya’s labour ministry, the casual workers will be deployed on three-year renewable contracts, with a guaranteed net [monthly] income of $1,500 (£1,195).
Israel has turned to Africa to fill a severe labour gap on its farms, after a mass exit of foreign workers.
Israel has also barred Palestinian workers, who made up nearly 20% of the agricultural labour force prior to the war.
Israeli ambassador to Kenya, Michael Lotem, told the BBC that Israel was planning to recruit farm workers from Uganda as well, while recruitment in Tanzania had already started.
“We are looking to East Africa to fill the labour gap as we have had student internships programmes in place for many years with these countries and it has been a good experience,” Mr Lotem is quoted by BBC saying.
He added that the labour shortage had been caused by the fact that an estimated 360,000 Israeli reservists have been called up for military service since the war started.
