Impacts of Covid-19 Containment Measures on Informal Food Vending in Residential Neighbourhoods in Nairobi City County

Abstract

Informal vending is a widespread economic activity and it includes food distribution services in the cities of the Global South including Nairobi City County. It plays a critical role in food supply to urban consumers in addition to the employment that it creates for the vendors. Vending attracts people with limited livelihood options due in part to the ease of entry on account of the low-investments in the small-scale enterprises. However, sensitivity of the vending trade to restrictive regulations such as Covid-19 containment measures disrupted the flow of food for sale by urban food vendors. A study on the impacts of the measures on food vending in two adjacent residential neighbourhoods in Nairobi City County was conducted to appraise the implications to vending businesses and the coping mechanisms adopted by vendors. Sourcing of food transported to urban food markets from rural areas and also directly from the farmers by the food vendors confirmed that vending is a continuation of urban-rural linkages. Enforcement and compliance with the containment measures disrupted the flow; causing loss of business hours, increases in the cost of vending operations, and escalation in the prices of food. These impacts threatened to destroy the livelihoods of the vendors against a backdrop of the challenges faced in coping with the pandemic itself. The article recommends the formulation of a municipal policy on food vending that aims to streamline the logistics of buying food at the urban markets; the transportation of food to vending spaces and to the sites in urban residential neighbourhoods. The article further recommends that the vendors adequately organize themselves into vendors’ business groups that could aid them in mobilizing and accessing money to support their growth and for sustaining their food vending operations instead of solely relying on augment support offered by the government.