Southern Italy heatwave exposes hardship of migrant farmworkers near Foggia
A prolonged heatwave sweeping across southern Italy has pushed thousands of migrant agricultural workers in informal settlements near the city of Foggia to the brink, highlighting the precarious conditions in which much of the country’s seasonal food production is carried out. As temperatures have repeatedly climbed well above 40 degrees Celsius, workers living in makeshift camps have struggled to find shelter, water, and basic protection from the sun while continuing to labor in the surrounding fields.
A hub for seasonal labor
Foggia, in the Apulia region, is one of the most important agricultural areas in Italy, producing tomatoes, olives, grapes, and vegetables that supply domestic and export markets. The region has for decades drawn large numbers of migrant workers from Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe, many of whom arrive during harvest seasons in search of short-term employment. With limited affordable housing, many end up living in sprawling self-built encampments on the outskirts of towns and farmland, conditions that humanitarian organizations have long described as degrading and unsafe.
Heat turns hardship into a crisis
The current heatwave, which Italian authorities have classified as among the most intense in recent years, has amplified the risks faced by those living and working outdoors. In the shanty towns, dwellings constructed from scrap wood, plastic sheeting, and metal offer little insulation against the heat, and access to drinking water and shade is uneven. Farm work, which often begins before dawn to avoid peak temperatures, still exposes laborers to long hours of physical exertion in direct sun, raising the risk of heatstroke, dehydration, and exhaustion.
A labor force without protection
Advocacy groups have repeatedly warned that many of the workers harvesting crops in southern Italy operate outside formal labor contracts, leaving them without access to health care, sick leave, or the legal protections that Italian labor law nominally extends to agricultural employees. Reports of withheld wages, overcrowded transport to fields, and inadequate employer-provided facilities have become recurrent. The heatwave has renewed calls from unions and humanitarian organizations for stronger oversight of recruitment practices and for the provision of adequate housing, water, and medical assistance in areas with large migrant populations.
A pattern repeated across the Mediterranean
The situation in Foggia mirrors challenges seen in other parts of southern Europe, from southern Spain to Greece, where migrant workers form the backbone of agricultural sectors that depend on cheap, flexible labor. As climate change drives longer and more frequent heatwaves, working and living conditions for those already on the margins are expected to worsen. Italian officials have acknowledged the problem, and local authorities in Apulia have at times organized water deliveries and health outreach in the camps, but campaigners say such measures are stopgaps without a structural response.
For the workers themselves, the calculus is stark. With families to feed and few alternatives at home, many continue to endure the heat, the isolation, and the uncertainty, harvesting the food that ends up on Italian and European tables long after the summer sun has faded.
Source: Africanews — read the original report.
