Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF TEKIRDAG AGRICULTURE FACULTY-TEKIRDAG ZIRAAT FAKULTESI DERGISI, cilt.21, sa.5, ss.1294-1307, 2024 (ESCI)
Seasonal migrant agricultural workers, who are one of the most important components of agricultural production, support the local and national economy with their contribution to production, while playing a key role in ensuring the stability of food supply in terms of food security. However, despite the significant contribution they make, seasonal migrant agricultural workers experience deprivation due to the fact that their living conditions are not sufficiently met in the places where they temporarily go to contribute to agricultural production but spend long periods of time. These deprivations are not deprivations experienced in a single dimension but in multiple dimensions. This study examines the multi-dimensional deprivations experienced by seasonal migrant agricultural worker households. The concept of deprivation is considered as material and social conditions that are relatively inadequate compared to the existing conditions of the society. The analysis includes the dimensions of shelter, sanitation and health, nutritional status, access to energy, and access to information and technology. The study examines the deprivations experienced by seasonal migrant agricultural workers in the relevant dimensions for a long period in the locations where they come to work. In this study, information was collected through face-toface interviews conducted in 2022-2023 with 80 households selected by snowball sampling from seasonal migrant agricultural worker households in Bala district of Ankara province. Firstly, their demographic information and data on their employment status were collected. Subsequently, information was gathered regarding the facilities available to households and their well-being in the districts they came to for work, based on the dimensions addressed. The findings provide inputs regarding potential interventions to improve the living conditions and general well-being of seasonal migrant agricultural workers. These findings are the deprivations that affect the quality of life, such as inadequate shelters that are extremely sensitive to climatic conditions, living conditions that lack the required sanitation facilities, recurring physical illnesses, nutritional deficiencies and limited access to information and technology. Measures are being taken by local and central management to improve especially the housing conditions of seasonal migrant agricultural workers. However, in addition to legal regulations, comprehensive policies that eliminate the deprivations of seasonal migrant agricultural workers should be established and working environments where workers' material and moral rights to work are protected and where they have decent living conditions should be created. Thus, an equitable and sustainable agricultural sector can be achieved by ensuring the sustainability of the welfare of seasonal migrant agricultural workers.