The brutal killing of four migrant farm workers in Calabria has reignited scrutiny of Italy’s illegal labour recruitment system known as “caporalato”, with social organisations warning that the practice continues to expose hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers to exploitation despite years of legal reforms. The findings were detailed in an investigation published by the Spanish newspaper El País.
According to El País, the victims were burned alive inside a car on June 1 in Calabria, an attack that investigators and labour rights advocates say has drawn renewed attention to a system that continues to exploit migrant workers across Italy’s agricultural sector. While the killings represent an extreme case, researchers argue they reflect wider structural problems that persist in the country’s farming industry.
The report recounts the experience of Tazeeb Tazeeb, a Pakistani journalist who fled his country in 2021 after receiving threats and later found work in vineyards and farms in Italy’s Veneto region. After accepting an employment contract he barely understood, Tazeeb said he was subjected to long working hours, overcrowded accommodation and repeated intimidation by a labour intermediary, or “caporale”, who controlled recruitment, transport, housing and wages.
Tazeeb told El País that workers often began their day at 4 a.m. and, during peak periods, worked up to 12 hours a day for weeks without rest. He said they received little or no protective equipment, were required to pay for transport to the fields and, in some cases, went eight months without receiving wages despite employers having already paid the intermediary. “If you didn’t do exactly what they asked, they threatened to set you on fire,” he said.
According to El País, the illegal caporalato system allows intermediaries to recruit and control migrant labour on behalf of agricultural businesses while withholding wages and exercising extensive control over workers’ daily lives. Although the system historically affected Italian workers, most victims today are migrants from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, many of whom face language barriers, insecure legal status and limited access to support networks.
The newspaper cites the latest report by the Placido Rizzotto Observatory, affiliated with the FLAI-CGIL trade union, which estimates that around 240,000 people are exposed to caporalato and other forms of labour exploitation in Italian agriculture, representing almost one-quarter of the sector’s workforce. More than 70 per cent are non-EU nationals and approximately 50,000 are women.
Researchers interviewed by El País argue that the system persists because it remains financially profitable and enforcement remains inconsistent. Marco Omizzolo, a sociologist at Sapienza University of Rome who has spent more than two decades investigating the phenomenon, said many employers believe they are unlikely to face inspections or significant penalties. Omizzolo also described working undercover alongside migrant labourers, where shifts lasted between 14 and 16 hours a day for salaries that in some cases amounted to only €300 to €350 per month.
The investigation also documents poor living conditions in parts of southern Italy, where migrant workers continue to reside in makeshift camps, abandoned buildings and temporary shelters lacking running water, electricity and adequate sanitation. Medical teams assisting agricultural workers have reported respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, musculoskeletal disorders and workplace injuries requiring hospital treatment.
El País further reports that organised crime groups continue to profit from labour exploitation. According to Italy’s Eurispes research institute, so-called “agromafias” generate more than €25 billion annually through activities including illegal labour recruitment, food fraud, logistics control and the misuse of public funds. Investigators are also examining allegations made by the sole survivor of the Calabria attack, who reportedly described a large Pakistani criminal network involved in controlling agricultural labour.
Italy introduced a dedicated anti-caporalato law in 2016 to strengthen prosecutions for labour exploitation. However, campaigners interviewed by El País argue that inspections remain too infrequent to eradicate the practice. Following the Calabria killings, Italy’s main farmers’ association, Coldiretti, called for stronger enforcement and improved working conditions for seasonal labourers, while Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida pledged “zero tolerance” for those who exploit workers, describing them as criminals rather than entrepreneurs.
