MIGRANT FARMWORKERS VOICE THEIR HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS ABOUT THE OUTBREAK...
As the agricultural high season begins in Turkey, migrant farmworkers are voicing their health and safety concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. They are also worried about social distancing as laborers begin to work side by side to plant and harvest. Every year thousands of agricultural workers from the east and southeast, together with their families, migrate to the agricultural regions of the country for the plantation, irrigation, hoeing and harvesting seasons, which usually start in April and last for up to nine months. Workers and their families often experience challenges while moving around the country in pursuit of jobs, from using unsafe and overcrowded vehicles for their transport to having limited access to health care services. The biggest challenge facing workers this year, however, is the spread of coronavirus and how they will continue traveling during the outbreak. Suphi Hatipoğlu, the head of Şanlıurfa Seasonal Agricultural Workers’ Association, said Tuesday that s...