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Promoting food security and livelihoods for urban poor through the informal sector: a case study of street food vendors in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

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Abstract

Although the street food sector plays an important role in urban food security, state-led food security measures in India have failed to provide a role for poor urban street food vendors to engage in the distribution and consumption of healthy foods. Instead, state-led food security schemes, whether production, distribution, or consumption oriented, have viewed the urban poor simply as beneficiaries of subsidized grain. This case study illustrates how the street food sector, operated by poor urban vendors selling ready-to-eat, healthy millet-based porridges in Madurai, has improved access to nutritious foods and created livelihood opportunities for the urban poor. The paper provides an overview of the informal street food sector, socioeconomic conditions of vendors, gender-based division of labour, as well as the food preferences and health awareness of consumers. Analysis of the data indicates the marginalization of street food vendors under the existing policy environment in urban India. The paper discusses how the state, as a regulatory body and a service delivery agent, as well as research and development organizations can strengthen the rights and capabilities of street vendors and, in doing so, improve urban food security.

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Notes

  1. According to recent statistics released by the Planning Commission (2013), India has registered substantial increases in GDP (9.32 % in 2010–11), per capita income (INR 36,342 per capita net national income in 2010–11), and total food grain production (257 million tons in 2011–12).

  2. The NFHS report from 2005–06 showed that 40 % of children in urban India were stunted, 17 % were wasted, and 33 % were underweight. For urban women, 51 % had anaemia and 26.5 % had chronic energy deficiency.

  3. From 1975–79 urban poor consumed 2,008 kcal of energy a day while the rural populations consumed 2,340 kcal. This disparity increased by 1990 when daily per capita calorie consumption was at 1,896 versus 2,283 kcal for the urban poor and rural people, respectively. During the same period of production-oriented food security policies, the rural population also exceeded the urban poor’s intake of protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin A (FAO 2006: 114).

  4. Fair-price-shops are retail outlets of the public distribution (PDS) chain in India.

  5. At the all-India level, only one fourth of urban households of the bottom 30 % of MPCE class were found to be receiving rice from the PDS system (NSSO 2007). The percentage of urban households in the same MPCE class that received PDS wheat was merely 12 %.

  6. For instance, the wholesale market price of finger millet in Tamil Nadu has increased from INR 4.62 per kg in April 2002 to INR 19.05 per kg in April 2014 (Agricultural Marketing Information Network 2014).

  7. Karnataka is the only state out of total 29 states in India that has recently introduced distribution of 2 kg finger millet per household per month at a price of INR 1 per kg (The Hindu 2014).

  8. While precise estimates on the contribution of the non-agricultural informal sector to Indian economy is a challenge, the NCEUS (2008) calculated it as 22 % of the net domestic product (NDP).

  9. Of the 142 million people engaged in the non-agriculture informal sector, one fourth are officially recognized as poor, based on their MPCE in 2004–05 (NCEUS 2007: 240).

  10. While the results and discussion in the following sections include some comparisons between the different vendor categories, the paper’s primary focus is the analysis of the 36 millet porridge vendors and 169 porridge consumers. Thus the high proportion of porridge vendors within the sample can be attributed to the need to understand this specific group of vendors and is not necessarily representative of Madurai’s street food vending population at large.

  11. Popular side dishes and condiments included buttermilk, raw onion, green mango, chillies, appalam, pickles, beans, and dhal.

  12. Porridge vendors had a wealth of rural knowledge and skills relating to identification and consumption of millets. Our study found that porridge venders frequently consumed finger millet in their homes and were able to identify other lesser known millet varieties such as kodo, barnyard, little, and proso millets. Without this in-depth knowledge of millet crops and recipes, other existing street vendors with urban backgrounds considered porridge vending as a risky and less attractive venture.

  13. In Madurai, pearl millet porridge has greater consumer demand and is perceived to be superior to finger millet porridge. This may be due to local Ayurvedic understandings that the consumption of pearl millet produces a cooling effect on the body while finger millet generates a heating effect on the body. Based on this understanding of consumers, pearl millet porridge is the more preferred product during the hot summer months while finger millet porridge is more desirable during the rainy season. As overall, sales for pearl millet porridge are higher than for finger millet porridge, vendors who sell both types of porridge cannot afford to continue selling only finger millet porridge during the rainy season.

  14. Both idli and dhosai are common breakfast dishes in South India. Idli is a steamed savoury cake made from fermented rice batter and black lentils (dhal). Dhosai is a thin pancake also made from fermented rice batter and black lentils.

  15. A recent survey conducted by the Madras Diabetic Research Institute, which involved screening of more than 10,000 people above age 30 in Madurai, showed 13 % were suffering from diabetes and that another 12 % were in the pre-diabetic stage (The Hindu 2013).

  16. On November 16–17, 1996, Kolkata officials forcibly removed over one hundred thousand street vendors and confiscated their equipment. The raid, which would become known as “Operation Sunshine”, was carried out to uphold a 1980 Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act that prevents vendors on the street (Chakravarty and Canet 1996). In Patna, Bihar, the police can arrest a street vendor without a warrant and convict or fine the person if found violating any law (NCEUS 2007: 61).

  17. While these government estimates are very conservative, estimates provided by independent experts for implementing all provisions under the Food Security Act range from INR 2.41 trillion (Gulati et al. 2012) to INR 3.14 trillion (The Indian Express 2013a; P. Mishra 2013), which amounts to 3–6 % of the total annual GDP (INR 55 trillion) for the year 2012–13.

  18. By contrast, only 21 % of the total mid-day meal budget is spent on the purchase of food grains.

  19. Tamil Nadu has a history of introducing several schemes intended to enhance the poor’s access to RTE food, such as the enforcement of price controls on idli being sold by restaurants and shops (The Economic Times 2013). The Amma Unavagam (translated literally as “Mother restaurant”) scheme, while an improvement over these past food consumption schemes, is not immune to political motivations or other limitations.

  20. These shops charge INR 1 for idli, INR 3 for curd rice, and INR 5 for Sambar rice (Nadar 2013).

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Acknowledgments

The research for this paper was supported under the CIFSRF (Canadian International Food Security Research Fund) grant received from the International Development Research Center (IDRC) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Ottawa. The authors greatly appreciate the intellectual input and logistical support provided by M. Karthikeyan, M. Palanisamy, Dr Damodar Jena, A. Madhankumar, Nivetha Mohan, N. Suji and other colleagues from DHAN Foundation, Madurai, India. We would like to recognise the language translation and other assistance provided in the field research by Esther Parameswari, Anwar Khan and B Gerard from Madurai. Finally, we also acknowledge the helpful insights and critiques provided by anonymous reviewers and editors of Food Security.

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  1. International Development Studies Program, Menno Simons College, A College of Canadian Mennonite University, Affiliated with The University of Winnipeg, 233-520 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Kirit Patel

  2. RESMISA Project, Menno Simons College, 233-520 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3C 0G2, Canada

    David Guenther

  3. Menno Simons College, University of Winnipeg, 233-520 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3C 0G2, Canada

    Kyle Wiebe & Ruth-Anne Seburn

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Patel, K., Guenther, D., Wiebe, K. et al. Promoting food security and livelihoods for urban poor through the informal sector: a case study of street food vendors in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Food Sec. 6, 861–878 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-014-0391-z

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