The Role of Informal Sector in Food Security: The Case of Addis Ababa
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Date
2011-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Over the past decades, informal sector has been growing fa st in Ethiopia. The maj or reason cited
for this is the growing rate of rural -urban mi gration and in ab ility of the formal employment
sector to prov ide joh for the active labor force. Because capac ity of formal employment scctor is
very limited . those llligrants and urban poor dwell ers are urged to join informal sector. Thus, this
master th es is deals with the contribution of informal sector towards enhancing food security
status and vu lnerabil ity level of households in the city of Addi s Ababa.
The study cmploys both primary and secondary data col lection tec hniques to gath cr thc des ired
facts and info rmati on. The primary data was selected usin g questionn ai re in wh ich arou nd 222
respondents were part icipated . For sampling purpose the researcher divided Addis Ababa in to
four groups us ing the city map. From these fo ur groups one sub-city was se lected purpos ive ly by
considering time alld money constraints. The selected sub-cities are Bole, Arada, Nefas Silk
Lafto and Ak aki Kaliti sub-c ity. In turn . seco ndary data was collected from diff'erent journals,
books, resea rches, magazine and other published and unpubli shed materials from library and
internet searc hing. In order to analyze the coll ec ted data both desc ri pti ve and econollletrics data
anal ys is techniques were appli ed. The descripti ve analysis was used to exam ine the
characteri stics of in formal sector operators. their demographic charac teri sti cs. sources of capital.
income statu s, participation, planning, saving habit, food securi ty status and vuln erabi li ty level or
respondents. Further, income inequality is anal yzed by using Lorenz curve and ANOVA. In
addition, to analyze determin ants of food security and vulnerab ility status or the informal sec tor
opera to rs, pro bit and ordered probit reg ress ion lllodeis were eillployed.The find ings of the sludy show an important contribut ion of in fo rmal sec tor employment towards
enhancing food access ibili ty of the poor. Around 67.3% percent get adequate income to cover
their dai ly food expenses. On the other hand, aimosl 62 .7 % of the respondents claim that they
cannot survive anv further without their busin ess. They are more vulnerabl e. The major
determin ants that alTcct both food security and vulnerability status of in formal sec tor operators
are age, sex, household size, experience in the business, worki ng time per day, saving, total
earni ngs, borrowing and I i vel i hood strategies . .
The researcher advocates that the government should give suf ficient attenl ion to this neglcc ted
but promi nent sector in the country's economy. This could be done through improving the
capaci ty of poor inlormal sec tor operators and facil i tating credit sources with low collateral alld
bureaucratic procedures.
Key words: Informal sec to I', Food security, Urban poor dwellers, Addis Ababa
Description
Keywords
Informal sec tor, Food security, Urban poor dwellers