STREET FOODS in BANGLADESH by Naomi Owens and Naseem Hussain
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STREET FOODS IN BANGLADESH by Naomi Owens and Naseem Hussain A Study of Roadside Food Vendors in Manikganj Town PREFACE The research which gavo rise to this report was conducted between January 1983 and March 1984 as part of the Equity Policy Center's study of street food in ten countries (Egypt, Senegal, Togoland the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Jamaica, and Peru). Funds for the Bangladesh project were provided to EPOC by the Office of Women in Development, United States Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C. The study in Bangladesh would noc have been possible without the help of many people. Above all, we are grateful to Mrs. Mahmuda Icianum, then Deputy Secretary, and to Mr. Hedayet ul Huq, Secretary, oZ the Ministry of Social Welfare and Women's Affairs, for advice, encouragement and permission to carry out the study. In Manikganj itself we are also especially grateful for the help and advice of three consecutive subdivisional officers, the subdivisional police oficer, the thana circle officer for development, municipality officials and many othe: local and subdivisional government offcers. rhe cross-nationaL study as a whole was designed by Irene Tinker, Director of the Equity Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The in-country proposal and research design were also greatly influenced by the wisdom and experience of Clarence altoney and Tom T.mberg; Bob Barnes, Sherry PLunkett, Mel Chatman, Liliana AyaLde and Nx1hkam Agarwal of the Dhaka Mission of USAID; Suzanne Wallen, Geoffrey Taylor, and James Novak of the Asia Foundation in Dhaka; PhyLlis and Kenneth Forman of Save the Children (USA); Md. Sirajuddin of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (who also chaired our Dhaka seminar on street food); and Masihur Rahman, economist-consultant to the project. 2 Additional much appreciated assistance in obtaining secondary sources and overcoming obstacles of various types was provided by Eaajuddin Amined, of the Department of Political Science, Dhaka University; Said ALL and Dirk Seeleman of the Asia Foundation; Najma Rizvi and I ndadul Hun of International Centre for Miarrhosal Disease Research, Bangladesh; staff of the Centre for Urban Studies, Department of Geography, Dhaka University; and Stefan Christopher of the External Evaluation Unit, Planning Comission. The authors were assisted diligently in the field and in office tabulations by ahmud Riyadh Khan, Rashida Sultana, Begum Shamsun Nahar, 1d. Ohidur Rabman, Abdul Khaleque, Hasina Parvin, ahbooba At-ary I(anum, Siddiqur Rahnua, Md. Tofazzal Hossain, and A. Nurtaz Alam. Nazmul Islam and Razia Begum also assisted with hand tabulation of data. Computer processing of data was graciously accomplished by DEhssham Murshed Khan. Ideas and encouragement were also regularly supplied from Washington by mail and on visits to Bangladesh by Irene Tinker and Coralie Turbitt. Raymond Owens, consultant to the project,also contributed greatly to the deoign of the inteventions described in the last chapter. For their willinGess to undertake some of these Lnterventions we are grateful to Professor Mujiber 1ahman and the board of the Manikganj 1,sociation for Social Service and to the Manikganj branch of the Bangladesh Krishi Bank. However, the final course taken by the research and this report, including any flaws or lapses therein, are the responsibility of the authors, in particular the senior author. Finally, we are grateful to the ready-to-eat food vendors of Hanikganj, uto overcame their initial uneasiness in answering our questions, without whose patience and trust the research would have been impossibLe. We hope that this report has helped to delineate their role in the economy and that those who plan this country's development will come to realize that they and their fellows in other towns in Bangladesh contribute importantly to the society of which they are an integral part. Ni PREFACE CONTENTS TARLES, listing of vi SUM1ARY vii I. ,,22~oD N COUNTRy CON=EXT The Economy 1 Urbanization 3 Employment and the Informal Sector 3 Markets 2 Women 12 Nutrition and Eating Habits 27 Credit 22 26 RESEARCd SETrING 33 The Central Zone Manilganj Region 33 Municipality 35 Food Selling Areas 38 main Road 39 The Markets 39 1. Kaca Bazar 40 2. Beotha Ghat 40 Bus Stand 41 Court 42 Neighborhoods 44 Water Availability and Safety 45 I. VENDORS 47 Specific Foods Food/Vendor Types 48 Foods and Vendors Excluded from the Study 548 Vendor Sample 55 Seasonality, Failure Rate, and Reasons for Failure Number of Items Sold by Vendors 56 Women aud Street Food 63 MaLe Helpers 63 Child and Adult Helpers 68 Family and Non-Family Helpers 69 Total Work Force 69 Place of Processing Food 69 Producers and Middlemen 70 Middlemen's Suppliers 70 71 Place of Origin of Middlemen's Goods Age 74 Schooling, Literacy, and Numeracy 75 Current Residence and Migration 75 Length of Time in Busiuess 77 Shop Owmership 79 Association Hembershios 80 Services Provided by Wholesalers 80 82 Religious Affiliation of Vendors 83 III. ECONOMICS OF STREET FOOD VENDING 85 STARTING CAPITAL AND CREDIT 85 Amounts of Starting Capital 86 SALES 89 Page BUSINESS COSTS 90 CurrenmWages Costs 90 Rent/Toll Trasportation 90 Fuel Cost 94 Long-term Costs 94 License and Tax 96 Loss and Liabilities 97 Credit Sales to Defaulting Customers 97 Beggars 98 Spoilage 98 Theft 99 Miscellaneous Costs 99 Loan Payments 99 100 INCOME 101 Range, quartiles, Averages Comparison with other Sources of Income 101 Negative Profits 103 Consumption of Profits 104 Percentage of Profits Paid to Employees 105 Percentage of Vendor's Income from Street 108 Secondary Sources of Income Food 108 Family Income 10 Income of.Women Vendors 110 Alternative Sources of Income for Women 112 Family Food Budget I12 Vendors' Own Expenditure on Street Food 115 Shop Structure and Income 115 Income 115 and Length of Time in Business Income and Length of Residence 118 Income, in Municipalicy Starting Capital and Location 121 121 Acquisition of Production and Selling Skills Ability of 125 Adjustments Sellers to do Accounting to Increased Costs Hindu-MusLim Differences 125 Starting Capital 126 126 IncomeSales Length of Time in Business 128 128 128 IV. CUSTOMERS 137 Who Eats the Food Occupations 137138 Residence Income 140 General Food Expenditure 141 Percentage of Income Spent on Street Food 143 Cost of Single Purchase 144 Frequency of Buying Individual Food Types 145 Eating Frequency 146 Meals and Non-Meals 151 156 Child Customers 58 V. FOODPREPARATION HANDLING 161 Peanuts and Canacur Prepared Canacur 161 162 Ruti/BhaJiMathe 16 3 164 V Tea 166 Muri 166 Acar/Chotpotti 167 Sanitation Rating Cost and 170 Sanitation 170 Spoilage 171 Liboratory Tests 173 Place of Street Food In the Diet 175 VI. INTERVENTIONS 177 IMPLEMENTED INTERVENTIONS 177 Vendor Fair 177 Loans for Vendors 178 Guarantee Fund 178 Motivator and Supervisor 178 .Screening Policy 178 Follow-up 179 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ACTMTY 180 Planning for Vendors/Hawkers 180 Women's Entrepreneurship 182 Sanitation 182 New Product 183 REFERENCES CITED 184 APPENDICES: APPENDIX I : GLOSSARY OF FOODS 188 APPENDIX 11 : LOCAL DEFINITIONS OF SHOP TYPES 200 APPENDiX III : PRE-SURVEY AID SITE SELECTION 202 APPENDIX IV : METHODOLOGY 205 APPENDIX V : LABORATORY REPORT 214 'I TABLES No. Title Page I Number 'of Producers and Middlemen Selling Each Food 2 Major Street Foods by Producers and 49 3 Vendor Middlemen Universe Stratified by Area and Vendor 51 4 Vendor Sample Type 53 5 Number of Vendors According zo Type 56 6 in Different Seasons 57 Vendors Who Change Products with the 7 7 endors Season 61 Who Change Profession with the Season 8 NZumber of Items Sold by Vendors, 62 9 According to Area Number of Vendors with Female Helpers 64 10 Producers and Women Helpers 65 Making 9 of Most Widely Sold Products 11 Mean Ages of Female Helpers 66 12 68 Place of Origin of Middlemen's Goods 13 Middlemen with Known Suppliers 72 14 Frequency Distribution by Vendors' Ages 73 15 Length of Residence in Municipality 76 16 Number of Hindu Vendors 78 According to Type of Shop and Location 17 Vendors Inheriting or 84 Rhceiving as Gift Part or All of Capital Breakdown by Hindus and Muslims 18 Sales, Income, Rate of 88 Return, anJ Percentage of Family Support Provided by Nine Food/Shop Types 19 Vendors' Weekly Sales by Blocks 91 20 of 8 Percentage of Sales Spent on Transportation 92 21 Vendors' 95 Weekly Income by Blocks of 8 22 Vendors' Lue Profits & 102 23 True Rate of Return @Tk.15/day Rate " of of 105 24 " Tk.20/day " 106 " " 25 Percentage " " Tk.25/day " 107 of Vendors' Income Paid to Eamloyees 26 Percentage Analysis 109 and Average Number of Earners in Vendor Families 27 Family Characteristics 111 According to Weekly Food Budget 28 Average Vendor-Family Food Budget 116 29 117 Vendors' Shop Structure by Income Categories 30 Vendors' Shop Structure 119 31 and Income by Vendor Type Income and Length of Time in Business 120 32 Vendors' 122 Length of Time in Municipality by 33 Average Income Category 123 Starting Capical of Vendors by Area 34 0. & Religion 127 35 Average Vendor Type & Religion 129 Weekly Sales of Vendors by Area 36 & loligion 130 it " " 37 " Vendor Type & Religion Average Income of Vendors by Vendor .131 38 Type & Religion 132 " " Area & 39 Average Religion 133 Length of Time in Business by Vendor 40 Type & Religion 135 ' " 41 Customer Occupations " Area & Religion 135 42 Number and Percentage of Customers 139 43 per Income Bracket Average Income per Income Bracket 141 44 Customet and Vendor Incomes 141 45 Customer and Vendor Family Food Expenditures 142 46 Percentage of Income Spent 143 on Street Food by Income Bracket 47 Expenditure for a Single 145 Purchase (for those who buy that 48 Occupation and Frequency food) 146 of Purchase of Food Types (Percentage of Respondents per Occupational Category) 49 Summary: Frequency 147-9 of Purchasing Individual Food Types (Whole Sample, All Occupations) 50 Eating Frequency, by Food Type 149 51 Ranking of Food Type 153 Consumption Frequencies Revealed by Three Different Measures 155 V; The Street Food Trade Bangladesh SUMARY * NI3IA I IN1AIBAXGLA DES1 r VA ........