Zimbabwean farmworker Aaron Majatamhe was heading home at sunset after a shift in one of South Africa¡¯s top fruit-producing regions, where bushes laden with bright unpicked citrus stood in rows.

¡°I see a lot of farm owners who are crying now ... people have to harvest those naartjies but there is no one,¡± the 33-year-old said.

The same shortage, he said, is looming in the vineyards. ¡°It¡¯s time to cut off the grapes and there is no one.¡±