POLATLI, Turkey — The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked food security fears across the world. In Turkey, it has underscored the crucial role that seasonal workers — impoverished people crisscrossing regions for manual jobs — play in the country’s food supply chain. Sustaining agricultural activity is critical for Turkey, where the pandemic has worsened existing economic woes, including an agricultural decline that has fueled food price hikes in recent years. But with the agricultural season now in full swing, seasonal workers are left with a tough choice: brave the coronavirus risk in neglected encampments to earn their bread or avoid risky working conditions and lose their scarce incomes.

On a roadside near Polatli, a town not far from Ankara, several hundred seasonal workers from Sanliurfa, a province some 900 kilometers (560 miles) away, have already erected a tent city where few precautions were visible against an outbreak when Al-Monitor visited last week. A few spacious tents aside, families of up to 10 people stay in small sheds made of tarps and sticks, many of which abut on another for steadiness. The only running water in the encampment comes from a sole irrigation hose. 

Life exposed to contagion risks is certainly not a matter of choice. Asked whether they were aware of the risks, a worker confirmed he did fear contracting the novel coronavirus. Then why not wear a mask, at least? “Where can I possibly get a mask from?” he replied. 

According to the workers, neither the field owners nor the authorities have tried to provide them with face masks. And no one from the local agriculture or health department has visited the encampment since the workers’ arrival in mid-May, they said. In another nearby tent city, the head of the group said, “We called the authorities. They said they were understaffed because of the coronavirus and would come only after the holiday.” He was referring to the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which ends May 26.