Urban livelihoods and food and nutrition security in Greater Accra, Ghana

Abstract

The dramatic growth of cities in the developing world has brought with it a new challenge-widespread and increasing urban poverty. However, efforts to address the unique problems of urban poverty lag far behind the growth of the problems themselves. Antipoverty initiatives have traditionally targeted rural areas, which were presumed to have been worse off than urban areas. But the problems of poor city dwellers have become more pressing, including the issues of how the urban poor earn their livelihoods and the ways in which this affects key indicators of human welfare, such as food security and nutrition, especially of children. This report examines the nature of urban poverty and how it relates to food insecurity and malnutrition in Accra, Ghana. By exploring the major determinants of food security and nutritional status, it develops indicators that are appropriate in an urban context, identifies vulnerable groups within the city, and suggests policies and programs to improve the lives of the urban poor. Feeding and caring for children are all studied to determine their contributions to the high rates of malnutrition. Urban livelihoods are complex and not easily characterized. Urban households rely heavily on their labor for income. Men's and women's activities are very different, however. Men are likely to be involved in skilled or unskilled labor-sometimes self-employed, sometimes as wage laborers-and some have clerical or professional jobs. Women are more likely to engage in petty trade or street food vending, where they earn far less than men. Because households headed by males have more resources for earning income and fewer dependents, they tend to have higher per capita incomes than female-headed households. Both individuals and households strive to diversify their income sources. For the survey sample as a whole, the mean number of income-generating activities per household was found to be only 1.9, and it was significantly lower for female-headed households. The research team observed much more income diversification than the survey results indicate, but many of these income resources were short term in nature. Urban agriculture does not play as large a role in household livelihood strategies within the city of Accra as in some other African cities, but it is of critical importance in the peri-urban areas around the city. Agriculture as a source of livelihood is increasingly vulnerable as the city physically expands, destroying farmland. The people of Accra are heavily reliant on the urban market for access to food. More than 90 percent of all food consumed is purchased for cash, about 6 percent comes from gifts, 1 percent is given to a worker in lieu of wages, and 1 percent is home-produced. Even among households engaged in urban agriculture, only about 7 percent of food (in value terms) is home-produced. Overall, 32 percent of the food budget is spent on prepared foods, but the poor spend nearly 40 percent of their food budget on street foods. A correspondingly high proportion of calories-roughly 30 percent for the entire sample-comes from street foods. Interhousehold transfers of money play a crucial role in livelihood strategies, especially for low-income households, indigenous communities, and for female-headed households. Most of this transfer income is spent on personal and household consumption needs. Urban households spend more than half of their budgets on food, but nearly one-fifth of the households spend more than 70 percent of their income on food. Housing takes up a surprisingly small share of the total household budget because many of the people surveyed live in family compounds that they neither own nor rent. Based on the calories available to household members per day (2,640 kilocalories per adult equivalent unit), about 40 percent of households in the sample are food-insecure. When the measure of food insecurity takes into consideration both the number of calories available and the share of the total household budget devoted to food, 24 percent are classified as food insecure and 40 percent as vulnerable; these are mostly among the lowest income groups. People who live in female-headed households consume more calories, but larger shares of the household budgets go to acquire food. Therefore, female-headed households and individuals in occupations that are predominantly female, such as petty trading and food vending, are the most vulnerable to food price rises or income shocks. From 1988 to 1993 the nutritional status of children generally improved, but from 1993 to 1997 it again deteriorated. Among children 3 to 36 months old, the prevalence of stunting (low height-for-age) was 17.6 percent in the latter period. their neighborhood; targeting strategies will be needed to identify vulnerable The findings of this study have important policy implications for reducing urban poverty and vulnerability. But to do so several preconditions must be met. Governments must accept that rapid urban growth is a reality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although poverty is predominantly a rural problem in Ghana, urban poverty must be recognized. National policies must address the needs of different categories of vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households. Education of girls is a good investment for reducing poverty in the future. For other livelihood groups, vulnerability stems from poor employment opportunities, lack of access to credit, and the regulatory environment, which inhibits the activities of the urban self-employed. The rapid proliferation of traders and vendors of street foods will require new approaches by municipal authorities, emphasizing participation and collaboration rather than control. Strengthening trader or street food vendor associations would help to develop self-regulatory mechanisms and give a political voice to small-scale entrepreneurs.