a) The harsh climate of southern Spain

This programme is set in the Almeria district along Spain’s Costa del Sol. It is less than 37º north of the equator, which puts it about as far south as you can get in Europe.

In September, in the deep south of Spain, there will still be weeks to go before the long hot summer draws to a close. There will have been no rain since April. Temperatures often hit 40 degrees, and the rivers dry up. In the province of Almeria, Spain has one of the nearest things that Europe has to a desert. In fact it’s so close to the real thing that sometimes the silence is broken by a performance that looks just right in a setting like this:

In Almeria, cowboys still stake their claims to the land, ride into town to bank their gold and look for trouble. But only when there’s a movie to be made or tourists to be entertained, who have come to visit the old sets of the Spaghetti Westerns.

The holidaymakers all stay where Almeria’s desert meets the sea. There are 3000 hours of sun in an average year – twice as much as in Northern Europe, and it is warm enough even in December and January.

b) The Agricultural Boom

This semi-desert region has been transformed in the last 20 years.

‘Fruit and veg’ – the principle products

The flow of produce coming off the land is endless. The seasons of the year scarcely matter. The scorching sun that created a desert setting for the movies also ripens the thousands of tonnes of aubergines, cucumbers, melons and peppers that are sold to countries all over Europe and the world.

This agricultural boom, often described as a modern-day gold rush, has brought a new way of life to the coastal plains of Almeria. Many ordinary people have made a fortune in a very short space of time. Fleets of lorries transport one of the biggest and most profitable cargoes to be found anywhere in Europe – fruit and veg.

The reasons for change

Agriculture in Almeria really took off when three vital things came together: sun, water and technology.

Sun has never been a problem. Almeria has a very intense version of the Mediterranean climate with almost continuous sunshine. In fact, the region is so rich in sun that solar energy is already generating electricity for the area.

Water, though, has always been an issue. Until the early 1960s, the Almeria farmers were plagued by constant water shortages. But then new technology fixed the problem. It enabled the farmers to drill deep enough underground to tap into the huge water aquifers that had built up over thousands of years.

With a supply of water guaranteed, the farmers took control of the environment in which the plants grow. They erected forests of steel and covered them in plastic. The farmers can closely regulate the conditions inside the greenhouses so that the plants get just the right amount of humidity and sunshine.

The desert plains of Almeria have been turned into a vast sea of plastic structures, with every scrap of land being used for cultivation.

The markets – where to sell

Most of this fruit and veg heads north.

Constant sun means that Almeria can have at least three crops every year, unlike many other parts of Europe which only have one. So the knack is how to get the stuff off to market and onto the shelves of Safeway, Tesco and other European supermarkets – preferably at the moment of peak demand.

Everyday, just before noon, the market’s computers count down through the deadly serious business of how much for 100 kilos of red peppers.

c) Finding workers

This amazing change in the appearance of the countryside and the wealth of the people required a very big labour force. Even working flat out, the Spanish farmers could never have achieved all of this on their own. For almost thirty years, people from Africa, mainly from Morocco, have travelled across the Mediterranean to Spain in search of jobs. This is an arrangement that often works for both sides – the farmers get cheap labour, and immigrants earn more money than they ever could back home. Over time, farmers and workers got to know and understand each other very well, and often become like an extended family.

Almeria has 40,000 legal immigrants who have been allowed in with official work permits. But there are thousands more who have been refused a permit and for them the story is very different. For some, the only choice is to get a job on the black market where they can be exploited by unscrupulous farmers who can make them work for the very lowest wages. As illegal workers, they can’t complain about this to the authorities, as they live in fear of being deported.

Many see Almeria and the rest of the European Union as a land of opportunity. And that is why people from North Africa will risk anything to reach the southern coast of Spain. They attempt to cross the Straits of Gibraltar in boats which are not meant for such dangerous waters. Places on-board are sold by the Moroccan mafia, and life jackets cost extra.

Tragically, many people just don’t make it. Between the years 1998 and 2000, more than one thousand people have been found dead on Spanish beaches. The true number will never be known because many of the drowned are swept back out to sea and are never recovered. In an attempt to stop any more people leaving, the Moroccan government is burning the boats in which they try to escape, and the Spanish government is on round-the-clock control to stop boats landing and rescue those in trouble.

d) Migration and conflict

Many migrants enter Spain illegally and get caught in a poverty trap. A ruined barn can be home to twenty Moroccan immigrants. They will have no fresh water, electricity or sanitation. For them, social services of any kind just don’t exist.

It isn’t always easy for the farmers either. The gold rush years are coming to an end, and the farmers are under terrific pressure to produce more and keep their costs down. It is very tempting to hire illegal workers for low wages, so the immigrants still keep coming. For them, some payment is better than nothing at all.

It was only a matter of time before this social volcano would erupt. And that is what happened in the town of El Ejido in February 2000, when the locals and the immigrants clashed. The riots brought all the racial tension out into the open. And that tension remains unresolved. The authorities have issued more work permits in Almeria but ironically this has made the situation worse. Word has spread about the new permits and even more people are now arriving. At the moment, there is an uneasy peace. But as the new arrivals take their campaign to the streets, trouble could flare up again at any moment.