By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, Feb. 21, GNA – Roadside food vendors across Ghana continue to play vital roles in providing various ready-to-eat daily meals to workers and students in major cities.
Before sunrise, large pots of waakye, (a rice & beans dish) and porridge are made ready for buyers including nurses, who report for hospital shifts at dawn, drivers, market traders and construction workers, who gather at roadside points to wait for transport to their various work sites.
By early morning, queues form at street corners where meals are packaged quickly for customers heading to work, because at these early hours, many workers leave home without being able to cook their own meals for breakfast or lunch.
The availability of ready-to-eat meals during these early hours reduces delays and enables punctuality as workers who might otherwise skip breakfast or arrive late at their workplaces begin their day nourished and on schedule.
Ms Mariama Ibrahim, a Waakye seller at Tema Community One, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that she begins her cooking around 03:00 hours at dawn, to be able to serve buyers who relied on it for breakfast, adding that early preparation had helped her to remain competitive in her business.
Mr John Kumahor, a service personnel, told the GNA, that he rarely reported to the office without first purchasing his usual portion of waakye from a nearby vendor, explaining that the meal sustained him throughout the working day, often keeping him energised until he returned home.
Behind these daily transactions lies an extensive supply chain that starts in rural farming communities.
Agriculture experts had long noted that domestic food distribution systems relied heavily on informal networks.
They argue that street food vendors formed a key part of this system, as they converted raw farm produce into ready-to-eat meals and extended the reach of rural harvests into densely populated urban areas.
This daily cycle created continuous economic circulation because farmers secured markets for their produce, while transporters earned income from distribution, vendors generated revenue through food preparation and urban workers maintained their productivity.
Research conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service on productivity, employment and growth in 2024 indicated that the informal economy constitutes a considerable segment of the Ghanaian economy.
The research stated that the informal sector is estimated to account for about 27 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an average growth of 3.4 per cent annually, and in employment terms, the informal sector was even more important because at least eight out of every 10 employed persons are engaged in the informal sector.
It added that essentially, most activities in the informal economy was characterised by low-productivity and low-pay jobs; thus, 80 per cent of workers contribute only about a quarter of the national output.
Urban economic development depends not only on large industries and corporate investment but also on the reliability of everyday services, and street food vendors provide one such service, and although they operate without large capital or formal recognition, they sustain the human energy that drives commerce.
GNA
Edited by Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo/ Christabel Addo