Petty Traders Research Articles

Impact of Soil and Water Conservation Practice on Income in Chencha District, SNNP of Ethiopia

Land degradation, in the form of soil erosion and nutrient depletion, threatens food security and the sustainability of agricultural production in many developing countries. As part of intervention activities a number of soil and water conservation practices have been promoted to smallholder farmers living in highly degraded and drought prone areas of the country. This study was conducted to examine the impact of SWC intervention on the livelihood of smallholder farm households in terms household income. To meet this objective primary data was collected in 2019 from 146 SWC program participants and 130 non-participants that were randomly selected from 3 intervention area and 3 counterfactual peasant associations in Chencha district of SNNP respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics and propensity score matching (PSM) models were used to address the stated objectives. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that before matching there was statistically significant difference between program participants and their counterfactual households in terms of farm size and participation in petty trade from continuous independent variables and from categorical variables sex of household, education of household head, biological and physical conservation method, intercropping as well as bench terrace were significant in favor of program participants. Results of the PSM model revealed that SWC intervention result in significant difference between program participant and nonparticipant households in terms of household income. Keywords: Chencha, Income, land degradation, PSM model, Soil and water conservation DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-2-01 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

‘We are passing our leisure time’: moving on from education in eastern Uganda

AbstractIn the trading centre of Atine Atirir in eastern Uganda, young men gather to play ludo. They are educated but most do not have salaried employment. Many farm and do some form of casual labour. They talk about the importance of leisure and ‘leisure time’ and discuss the prospects of Arsenal in the English Premier League. In this article I explore the relationship between education, farming and ‘leisure time’ and look at the ways in which young men in particular make sense of lives that involve both schooling and farming. A number of scholars have focused on the tensions and frustrations of educated – typically urban – youth in Africa and elsewhere. They observe a growing distance between older and younger people, and the ways young men define their situation as one of boredom, dissatisfaction and waiting. By contrast, I show the ways in which the ludo board helped younger men in a poorer, rural setting elide an interest in an ‘educated style’ with rural forms of work – farming, petty trading and casual employment – and how the space around the game was mostly a site of play and relaxation, a place for passing, rather than killing, time. There was also a large degree of sympathy between the generations.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors in South-Eastern Nigeria: A Community Based Survey

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors play a major role in cardiovascular disease burden worldwide. The prevalence is known to be in the increase especially in the developing countries. There is need for timely community based studies in order to keep tab with the current scope. It is against this background that we embarked on this cross-sectional community based study of the prevalence of selected cardiovascular risk factors in semi-urban community in Abakaliki Southeastern part of Nigeria in October 2016. Method: The consecutive consenting persons of 18 years and above were screened for selected cardiovascular risk factors in October 2016. Results: A total of 1074 adults were seen (males-567, females-507) with age range of 18 - 80 years and mean age of 35.63 ± 12.45 years. They were predominantly farmers, petty traders and artisans. The identified CVD risk factors were hypertension 285 (26.4%), alcohol abuse 131 (12.1%), obesity 122 (11.3%), diabetes 97 (9%), family history of stroke 87 (8.1%), smoking 74 (6.9%) and previous stroke 29 (2.7%). Conclusion: The cardiovascular risk factors were quite prevalent with male preponderance of alcohol abuse and smoking.

Effect of Informal Sector Tax Revenue on Capital Development in Lagos Metropolis

Abstract The study investigates the effect of informal sector tax proceeds on capital development in Lagos Metropolis. The study adopted Ex-post facto design to obtain secondary data, covering 20 years (2000–2019) from the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and the Ministry of Budget and Planning. All the series were tested for normalities to determine the appropriateness of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression. The results of the study revealed that tax collected from the association, petty traders, and market men and women had a significant effect on capital development in Lagos Metropolis. It is evident from the monumental capital projects being executed by the government in the Metropolis. The study recommends that the government should not only create an enabling environment for the informal sector to thrive but also give all necessary support for its survival because the sector has contributed to the capital development of the Metropolis through tax revenue.

Measurement of natural radioactivity in soil dust samples along roadways in high commercial areas of the Ketu South district of the Volta Region, Ghana

There are increasing awareness and concern about the radiological impact of dust from soils along the roadways on petty traders and commuters in major commercial areas of Ghana. Soils in such commercial areas can be contaminated by road dust that could alter their radiological characteristics. This is because of the general exposure of road dust to environmental elements such as industrial and urban activities and also exhaust fumes from the vehicles. In the present study, 52 surface soil samples were collected along six roadways in the Ketu South District of the Volta Region, Ghana. The study area is one of the high commercial activities and consequently high traffic density. The measures of the specific activity concentration of238U,232Th, and40K in the samples were taken using high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry. The results were evaluated to assess the radiological impact due to roadside soil in the area. The activity concentration in the samples ranged from 74.62 to 156.3 Bq/kg for238U, with an average of 112.4 Bq/kg. The activity concentrations of232Th ranged from 6.5 to 29.0 Bq/kg, with an average of 14.6 Bq/kg and that of40K ranged from 83.76 to 224.27 Bq/kg with an average of 141.02 Bq/kg. The results were used to estimate the radiological parameters of the study soils. The levels of radium equivalent activity (Raeq), absorbed dose rate (D), and annual effective dose (E) in them were lower than the recommended or safe limits proposed by international bodies such as UNSCEAR (2000) or ICRP (1991). These findings indicated that soils in the studied area had the normal levels of radiation and were therefore radiologically safe.

Socio-economic and Bio-physical Resources Characterization of ‘Warja’ Watershed in Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha District, East Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Watershed development is an important component of rural development and natural resource management strategies in many countries. The study was conducted to investigate the current situation of Warja watershed for further improvements to promote Sustainable and productive livelihood through the integration of different watershed components in participatory approach. Household interview and biophysical resources assessment followed by watershed mapping techniques were used for the data collection. Purposive sampling methods were used to select 63 households and Warja watershed boundary was delineated and its map was developed based on the preliminary outlet identified with the help of GPS reading. Descriptive statistics and diversity indices were used for data analysis. The results of the study indicated that Agriculture was the principal occupation (98.4%) of the population of Warja watershed. The average farmland size was 1.9 hectares while 25% of the households have farmland ranging from 0.25 to 1 hectare. The minimum and maximum family size of the sample farm households was 2 and 16 respectively. The common types of off-farm income generating activities are petty trade and working as daily labor. Slope gradient of Warja watershed ranges from 0 to more than 30 and the slope gradient of 2-5 and 5-10 cover the greatest in area coverage representing 204ha and 145ha respectively. Soil laboratory analysis result showed that sandy loam was the major soil type of Warja watershed. Overall results concluded that land degradation and biodiversity loss were a serious concern and watershed management programs could be strengthened. Awareness creation and strengthening capacity of rural communities on integrating crops, livestock and natural resource management technologies for effective soil and water conservation measure should be enhanced through participatory integrated watershed management approach.

Women Petty Trading and Household Livelihood in Rural Communities in South-Eastern Nigeria

Women Petty Trading and Household Livelihood in Rural Communities in South-Eastern Nigeria

Contribution of Petty Trade on Household Income and Poverty Reduction

The study aims to explore the contribution of petty trade on household income and poverty reduction. For this purpose, forty respondents engaged in petty trade were selected in Dharan city in different petty markets like Chhata Chowk, Vanu Chowk and Purano Bazar in Dharan city. The required information was collected through the interview by using a structured interview schedule, observation, and focused group discussion. This study employed both judgmental sampling to obtain the sample. The program used in data analysis is the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program to obtain frequencies in table and figure and ANOVA and correlation for the hypothetical test. Descriptive statistics is carried out to analyze the contribution of petty trade on household income and poverty reduction. The researcher has analyzed age, gender, religion, came from education level, marital status, types of commodity, types of consumer, attitude of consumer, attitude of society, sources of commodity, amount of investment, improvement in economic condition, payment of tax, amount of tax, office to be paid tax, fulfillment of needs, reduction of poverty and portion of household income of respondents. According to respondents, petty trade is their main source of income. Hence, it has brought a qualitative change in household income and poverty reduction of respondents.

People’s Power: Local Agency among HIV AND AIDS Marginalized Groups in Mbozi District, Tanzania, 1980s-2017

This study examines the Mbozi society`s responses to the plight of marginal groups attributed to HIV/AIDS for the past three decades. The groups in question include people suffering from and or living with HIV/AIDS, AIDS related widows, AIDS orphans, and the elderly caring AIDS orphans. Rather than focusing synchronically on the responses from the international community, government and Non-governmental organizations as has been done by many studies, this study diachronically concentrates on the ordinary people`s responses at the grass-roots level. It argues that to cope with their plight, marginal groups associated with HIV/AIDS engage in different livelihood strategies including wage-labour, begging, sex work, petty trade, income generating groups, self-help groups, farming as well as enlisting family and neighbourhood support. By drawing on documents and interviews with people at the grass-roots level, this study not only brings to the fore the voices of the marginalized and people`s agency and resilience in the context of HIV/AIDS pandemic but it also adds to the growing body of knowledge on social exclusion in Tanzania in particular and Africa as a whole.

Metaphorical mapping of civic and Christian responsibilities in Mark 12:13-17: Implications for petty traders and revenue collectors in Kumasi, Ghana

The article explores the meaning of Mark 12:13-17 in the light of the apparent contention between petty traders and revenue collectors in Kumasi. The philosophy behind the work is that while the meaning of the statement “render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” is ambiguous, it was able to challenge and provoke both parties (Herodians and Pharisees) to truly reflect their motives for accepting or rejecting taxation. In this study, the teaching of Jesus is taken as a metaphoric statement with the capacity to generate multiple meanings. The study uses the technique of Lakoff1 to map the attitudes of the Herodians and Pharisees unto revenue collectors and petty traders as supporters and rejecters of taxation respectively, and in dialogue with Jesus. In this way, the statement of Jesus becomes a double-edged sword inducing appropriate responses from each group. The study concludes that honesty in the sight of God should be the attitudes of both petty traders (in declaring their monthly returns) and revenue collectors (in their modus operandi) to avoid corruption so that they may both render what is due to God and to Caesar. The study recommends that revenue collectors and petty traders work as partners with common interest rather than as opponents to be defeated since they are both images of God and citizens of Ghana.

‘Useful’ and ‘Earning’ Citizens? Gender, state, and the market in post-colonial Delhi

AbstractThe Indian state treated the partition of Punjab as a ‘national disaster’ and training for refugee women was deemed essential to restore the social landscape; yet the kind of help it offered to refugee women rested on its clear assumptions and biases about the kind of work that was appropriate for them: women were offered training in embroidery, stitching, tailoring, and weaving, as these are associated with feminine and household-based skills. This article will reveal that the state rehabilitation enterprise was primarily masculine in focus. The state treated women refugees as secondary earners and as guardians of hearth, kith, and kin; it did not see them playing a definitive role in nation-building in post-colonial India. In the absence of state supportive policies, refugee women were compelled to take up informal jobs like petty trading, domestic service, and labouring work. This article suggests that refugee women were handicapped in the labour market at their very point of entry. It traces the history of women's informalities in Delhi. In doing so, it investigates the feminization and commercialization of urban space in twentieth-century Delhi. It urges that women made space in more than one way: identifying fragmentary livelihoods, producing small-scale capitalism, and creating informal markets.

DETERMINANTS OF RURAL LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES AND INCOME DIVERSIFICATION AMONG PASTORAL AND AGROPASTORAL HOUSEHOLDS IN SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Apart from farming, engaging on non-farm and/or off-farm income activities and diversifying income earning means lie at the heart of livelihood strategies to improve the level of food security and poverty status of pastoralist and agro-pastoral households in southern Ethiopia. This study analyses the determinants of the level of income diversification and livelihood strategies of pastoral and agro-pastoral households in Malle District of South Omo zone, southern Ethiopia. A multi-stage sampling technique involving stratification and random sampling techniques were used to select 196 representative household heads. Descriptive statistics, Simpson Index of diversity, Multivariate Probit and Two-limit Tobit models were employed. The results of the study show that farmers participated in farming, non-farm income, petty trade and off-farm income livelihood strategies. The factors influencing livelihood strategies are age, sex, family size, educational level, farm size, main market distance, size of livestock holding, cooperative membership, use of credit, and transport access. Moreover, the factors influencing the level of income diversification are sex, family size, educational level, livestock holding size, crop failure, distance of nearest main market, income from farm, and share of non & off farm income. Based on the finding, the government should emphasize on strengthening agricultural production system with due attention parallelly given to strengthening all non-farm and off-farm income earning activities by expanding the provision of rural finance, gender mainstreaming program, formal education, farmer cooperative formation, livestock production system, and rural road construction among pastoralists and agro-pastoralists of the study area.
 Keywords: Livelihood Strategies, Income Diversification, Multivariate Probit and Twolimit Tobit models and Southern Ethiopia.

Microcredit as a strategy for poverty reduction in Nigeria: a systematic review of literature

Microfinance was introduced in Nigeria in 2005 to give microcredit to the poor, especially the petty traders. This was to allow them to expand their businesses, increase sales and earn income. This study systematically assessed the impact of the microcredit in poverty reduction. A systematic search for quasi-experimental, observation and comparative studies published between 2008 and 2018 was conducted in five literature databases, lists of relevant studies and websites. Both qualitative and quantitative studies were included in the review and their quality assessed. Inclusion criteria were met by twenty studies. These studies showed how microcredit influence poverty reduction among petty traders who are beneficiaries of microcredit. Among these studies, fourteen focused on microfinance and poverty reduction and seven dealt with microcredit and poverty alleviation. Most studies were quantitative, eight had mixed methods and one had a qualitative analysis. Among the included studies, nineteen supported the hypothesis that microcredit contributes to poverty reduction and only one study objected to this hypothesis. While the findings of this review have revealed that microcredit is a strategy for poverty reduction, there are some challenges that hinder the accessibility to microcredit. This calls for government actions to review its microcredit policy.Keywords: Microcredit, Microfinance, Nigeria, Poverty reduction

From Overt Opposition to Covert Cooperation: Governance of Street Food Vending in Nanjing, China

In the Global South, the informal food economy is both a source of income for disadvantaged urban groups and an accessible source of food for consumers. Yet, governance of this economy has commonly been restrictive among Southern countries including China. Consequently, in China there has been an antagonistic relationship between vendors and chengguan—China’s city management officers. This antagonism has been studied by scholars and reported by Chinese media. In response, several Chinese municipal governments, including Nanjing’s, reformed their regulations to formalize street food vending with a permit system. Despite this progress, the reforms are criticized as partial and dismissive of the needs of vendors. This article uses semistructured interviews with street food vendors to evaluate how the reforms affected vendor-chengguan relations and vendors’ livelihoods in Nanjing. In contrast to other studies in China, we identified a non-confrontational relationship between some groups of vendors and chengguan. Rather than overt opposition, this relationship is better understood as covert cooperation. Unpermitted practices of street food vending were tolerated by chengguan and the local government, despite restrictive top-down regulations. A few other existing case studies conceptualize the discrepancy between policy and its implementation as ambiguous governance. However, we argue that the term ambiguous governance does not fully capture the complex dynamics in the covert cooperation between vendors and officers in our study. One group of vendors we studied play multiple roles. They were not only petty traders, but also landless farmers who lost their farmland to urbanization. The agreement between these vendors, chengguan, and local government was reached outside the permit system, and was a means of compensating vendors for their lost land. Therefore, the governance mechanism is more accurately conceptualized as compensatory governance. To conclude, we call for further studies on the compensatory governance of street food vendors among Chinese cities, and advocate for community-based bottom-up initiatives to formalize this informal governance.

Engendering Finger Millet-Based Value Chains for Livelihood and Nutritional Security of Women in Agriculture

Gender analysis along the agricultural value chain enhances our understanding about the roles performed by men and women in the value chain and in forward and backward linkages, their access to productive resources, opportunities available for valueaddition and benefit sharing, both as individuals and group enterprises. The gender roles in finger milletbased value chains and the constraints faced by women in existing finger millet value chains in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha have been documented in this study. Along the value chains, women were found only as farmers, petty traders or labourers in processing units. However, the entry points for women in finger millet value chain have been identified. The role of women in the value chain could be strengthened by mobilizing them into clusters, establishing milletprocessing units, and forming forward and backward linkages.

Challenges Faced by Petty Traders in Accessing Loans from Financial Institutions: Evidence from the Upper West Region of Ghana

Access to finance is a key determinant for business start-up, development and growth for small businesses. This paper focused on the challenges faced by petty traders in accessing loans within Wa Central in the Upper West Region of Ghana with a sample of eighty-one respondents for both the questionnaire and the interview. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation matrix and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. The study showed evidence that high interest rate charged; demand for collateral and poor records keeping by petty traders were the challenges of accessing loans. The paper suggests that petty traders must keep proper records and the need for financial institutions to reconsider its stringent eligibility criteria for petty traders, Finally policy makers must create an enabling operating environment for micro enterprises to flourish.

Faith, Work, Farming and Business: The Role of the Spiritual in West African Livelihoods

Local religions, Islam and Christianity influence and shape West African livelihoods where for many spirituality is an integral part of work, time and making a living. For farmers the spiritual imbues their understanding of the natural world, as well as affecting the control and allocation of resources and their timely use. For the Sufist Mouride brotherhood of Senegal their work ethic nurtures agriculture and supports a diaspora of petty traders and businesses. Meanwhile, the Christian Pentecostal Church encourages myriad small businesses, and its promotion of a work ethic that has occasioned the contention of a Weberian-style transformation. The creation of sustainable networks of socio-economic change through religious adherence is not in doubt, but whether this will promote a general developmental shift is more contentious. Pentecostals emphasize education and literacy, a priority for most governments, but without job opportunities there is widespread discontent among the young, even the educated. Furthermore, the young are disenchanted by patrimonial-clientelist societies, and it is through religion that violent dissent is articulated. Assertions that religion per se is inimical to social and economic change in West Africa are difficult to substantiate. What is a problem for farmers and small businesses is the uncertainty not just of their immediate environments, but of the volatility and dysfunctional nature of the state, and a lack of enabling conditions. Thus, religion and spirituality provide help in difficult times for people, but also opportunities for improvement in their livelihoods and lifestyles.

The Effect of Single Parenthood on Girl Child Education in Kenema City

The study investigated the effect of single parenthood on girl child education.
 A total of one hundred (100) single parents were randomly selected by an impartial ballot drawn from all the sections in Kenema city. Five areas were then selected including kpetema, Nyawama, kissy town, Samai Town and Lambayama sections. 20% of single parents in each section were used as sample for the topic under review. (The Effect of Single Parenthood on Girl Child Education).
 The findings of the study revealed that:
 There were more single parents who have never been married. This ranked up to the highest percentage than those who have cohabited, divorced and widowed.
 Among the many reasons for the breakdown of marital relationships, failure to meet expectations and outside influences were the most paramount reasons. The other reasons, though may be important, but cannot stand as serious reasons for the breakdown of marital relationship.
 The number of school going girls were more than the number of school going boys and there were less number of girls than boys that were not attending school.
 Only few girls of single parents were performing excellently and few of them had completed tertiary level, some had completed senior secondary school level while a good number are yet to attain junior secondary school level.The highest percentage of the constraints that affected the academic performance of girls of single parents was peer-group influence and second highest being inadequate financial support.
 Among the coping mechanisms of single parents, were civil servants, petty traders and a reasonable number of single parents were barely managing to cope with their children’s schooling.
 Some parents suggested adequate sensitization for their school going girls, adequate job facilities for single parents, boarding home facilities and the establishment of single parenthood Association.

Assessing the Motivations for Migration Among West African Immigrants in Itinerant Retail Trading in Ghana

Though West African itinerant immigrant traders have become an indispensable constituent of the Ghanaian economy, it is as yet unknown what their motivations for migration are in the extant literature. Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper examined the drivers of migration among West African itinerant petty traders in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana. The paper, which was underpinned by the push-pull migration theory, surveyed 779 itinerant immigrant traders and conducted nine key informant interviews. Descriptive and bivariate statistics as well as chi-square were the main analytical techniques used to present the findings. The results indicated that most of the immigrants migrated into the country primarily to hunt for job opportunities. The analysis further revealed that about a third of the immigrants selected Ghana as their preferred destination in West Africa due to the belief that Ghanaians are hospitable people. The practical implications and theoretical contributions of this paper are discussed.

The role of dry land forests for climate change adaptation: the case of Liben Woreda, Southern Oromia, Ethiopia

BackgroundDespite the increasing role of dry forests in climate change adaptation and mitigation, these versatile resources has got less attention in the national and regional planning, their potential to enhance the local and national economy has been overlooked, and their contribution to sustainable environmental management has not been recognized. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the socioeconomic contribution of dry forests and forest products to climate change adaptation in the Liben Woreda, Southern Oromia region of Ethiopia.MethodsFor this study, an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach was used. A total of 74 households from villages in the Bulbul, Boba, and Melka-Guba kebeles were randomly selected for the household survey.ResultsResults showed that 75% of the respondents in the area indicated that climate change has become their major sources of vulnerability, where drought has been manifested in the form of crops failure and massive death of livestock particularly cattle species. The main income strategies of the study households include livestock, crop, forests such as gum and resins, firewood and charcoal and non-farm activities such as in the form of petty trade, wage and aid. The average total household income was ETB 11,209.7. Out of this, dry forest income constituted 15% of the total income. In addition to using dry forests as rangeland for livestock, the communities collect wood for construction, fodder, traditional medicine, and forest food both for subsistence and for sale. On the other hand, dry forest products could be considered as less vulnerable, rather resilient livelihood strategies to climate- and environment-related risks compared to livestock and crop production such as in the face of drought periods. More than 48.6% of the households argued that the income generated from dry forests increased substantially due to increment in the level of engagement of family members in forest based income activities. On the other hand, 35.8% of the households responded that livestock production, particularly camels and goats, have been making the livelihood strategies of the respondents more resilient indicating the shift made from grazers browsers to livestock. In general trends show that, the trends of livelihood dependency on dry forest were highly increasing indicating the importance of dry forest income in responsse to frequent droughts. ConclusionsDry forest income has been becoming crucial livelihood staretgy in response to frequent droughts in the study area and hence, it is important to improve the management of dry forests for livelihood enhancement, while also securing their long-term ecological functions.