FAO conducts survey on Street Food Vendors in Accra
In support to planning and implementation of effective and efficient public policies
28 April 2016, Accra -- A study being conducted on Street Food Vendors (SFV) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) within the Central Accra district has revealed that street food vending is mainly a sector run by women, that it is high in poverty pocket areas of the city and near schools, and that, despite the widespread informality of SFVs, the overall hygienic and safety conditions under which street foods are prepared and sold in Accra are found to be acceptable.
In Ghana, street food preparation and selling provides a regular source of income for thousands of men and women, and represents a significant part of urban food consumption for millions of low-and-middle-income consumers in urban areas on daily basis.
The FAO in collaboration with the School of Public Health of the University of Ghana is conducting the survey on street food vending within Accra Metropolitan area.
The interim findings on a first sample of 1700 street food vendors (SFVs) as of April 2016 show that almost all SFVs are women, whom often face challenges in adapting to the informal labor market, but nonetheless play a central role in the economy by resiliently combining their traditional role of food service providers and small scale entrepreneurship.
SFVs were found to cluster in areas where poverty pockets are higher – such as Osu, Adabraka, South Industrial Area, Usher Town, Jamestown, Korle Dudor East, Asylum Down West – while they are very few in higher-income neighborhoods such as North and West Ridge.
Almost half of the SFVs operate near a school, making them a central element in the nutrition of school children.
Despite the proven widespread informality of SFVs, which puts them out of the direct control of the public authorities in charge of taxation and food control (four out of ten SFVs declare to have never been visited by food inspectors), the survey highlights the fact that the overall hygienic and safety conditions under which street foods are prepared and sold in Accra are found to be acceptable, in contrast to what is often stated or perceived by the public at large.
The survey is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Germany (BMEL) on Mainstreaming Nutrition in CAADP and Agriculture Policies and Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Italian Fondazione della Banca del Monte di Lombardia (FBML).
The initiative is aimed at gathering updated and policy-relevant information about the location and type of street food outlets, the variety of foods sold, their environmental safety challenges, the legal status of vendors, and the economic dimension of the sector. Such information are meant to support the planning and implementation of effective and efficient public policies
As part of FAO programming towards eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, with the intention to provide safe, nutritious and healthy food to the population of Ghana, the process has a two-fold aim of acknowledging and inspiring other vendors and developing and supporting a deserved positive image of the sector.
In 2013, the FAO and the Government of Ghana agreed upon a three-year Country Programming Framework (CPF), to enhance ongoing efforts at improving good practices among street food vendors with support for raising consumer awareness on food safety.
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