Study of the Marketing of Agricultural Products by Roadside Traders (Hawkers) in Nairobi

Abstract

Roadside trading in agricultural products is often considred a dirty and undesirable activity by the City authorities; yet this marketing activity (hawking) is of crucial importance to some of the very poor residents of Nairobi who depend in varying degrees upon the activity as a source of income. Roadside trading (in agricultural products) is illegal as far as the city authorities are concerned. The City Council requires that agricultural products be sold in retail shops, markets or Licensed kiosks. Despite these regulations, some of the economically deprived residents of the city, take up hawking in agricultural foodstuffs which are highly demanded by the workers in the city. The trade tarries some risk since the traders lose their products if caught up by the city authorities. Thus this situation has a bearing the type of decisions mad, by· the hawkers. They have to be crafty in avoiding the city authorities. This study outlines the type If decision made by the hawkers with respect to some of' the controllable variables of marketing. The basis on which these decisions were made were also discussed. The study also outlined the market characteristics especially the demographic variables. On the basis of the analysis of the data collected from the hawkers, the author mad~ conclusion on various i sues. It is specially striking that decisions regarding marketing various such as product, price, distribution and promotion are taken seriously by the hawkers and that the entire trade is dominated by women as both sellers and consumers.