The Impacts of Petty Trade on Household Livelihood: A Study of Women Petty Traders in Oromia Regional State, West Shoa Zone

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the impacts of petty trade (locally gullit) on household livelihood by focusing on women petty traders. A case study is carried out in West shoa zone, Oromia regional state in the selected towns (Holeta, Ejere (Addis Alem), Ginchi, and Ambo) as a major destination of gullit operators. The data is obtained through snow ball sampling technique, observation and using structured questionnaire from 80 gullit operators. The descriptive analysis depicts that almost all the gullit operators are above the age of 30 and do not complete high school while some are uneducated. More than half are married and rarely rely on the income of their husbands who engaged in casual works. The household size ranges from 2 to 8, of which 70 percent are school children. They sell items easily available in their surrounding (usually fruits and vegetables) and some homemade items such as injera, pepper flour, bean flour etc. at the spots not legally received and often subjected to relocate their pitches when needed. They sell from 0 to 800 Birr on daily basis where the average daily sell is 41 Birr for 3 to 4 days per week. The years of trading ranges from 4 months to 20 years without shifting and have got no support from government or non-government agencies. They use start up finance from their pocket or from ekub (socially forced saving) that does not exceed 200 Birr. The petty traders face several challenges on their job such as psychological, social, health and physical challenges. The result confirmed that gullit trading is only for daily subsistence or consumption not for asset formation. Thus, it is recommended that this enterprise needs policy maker’s attention to enhance rural household welfare, to facilitate financial support and initiate development projects.