STREET FOOD VENDING, MAJOR ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN KSI-RESEARCH

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A survey conducted by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi has revealed that street food vending is a major job creation avenue and a booster for the national economy. 

The sector currently employs about 20 thousand caterers operating assorted street food vending businesses with the operators earning an average of 60 Ghana Cedis daily compared with the National Daily Minimum Wage. 

This came to light at the dissemination of findings of a research project code-named “The Ghana Street Food Project” at a forum in Kumasi. 

The Ghana Street Food Project is a three-member research work under the auspices of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the KNUST in partnership with the Food Research Institute of the CSRI, University of Copenhagen and the Danish Foreign Affairs Ministry. 

The project period spans the period April 2012 and March this year with manifold objectives. 

Among these are to assess the performance and economic viability of street food vending and the quality and safety of the food on sale.

 The research has revealed also that the street food vending sector has the ability to employ as many as 105 thousand people in the Kumasi metropolis to enable them to improve on their income levels. 

Street Food vending has become such a huge commercial activity in Kumasi due to the strategic geographical location of the city making it a major transit point for travelers criss-crossing the city to and from the northern and southern parts of the country. 

However, the sector is bedeviled with some management, health and safety challengers. 

One of the Researchers, Mrs. Gloria Ankar-Brewoo, in presenting her findings revealed that, the conditions under which particularly ‘fufu’ and fired rice are prepared for public consumption leave much to be desired. 

She noted for instance that the use of aluminum and lead utensils as well the unhygienic personal and environmental conditions under which these foods are prepared pose health risks to patrons. 

Mrs. Ankar-Brewoo noted also that the use of naphthalene makes consumers highly susceptible to cataract in the long run.

 The research findings are therefore aimed at helping to shape public policy in the regulation of the sector.

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