Urban Informal Economy in Bangladesh: A Case Study on Mobile Vegetable Vendor in Dhaka City

Authors

Md Sanaul Haque Mondal, East West UniversityFollow

Abstract

The informal economic sector is very important for the economy of any developing country. As a developing country, informal economy plays a significant role to Bangladesh’s labor market. But this sector is still undernourished. This research was conducted to understand the contribution of the urban informal sector at a micro scale. This paper aimed at revealing the contribution of vegetable selling to improve socioeconomic status of vegetable vendors and the obstacles they face to run their business. Research data was collected through in-depth interviews with vegetable vendors who engaged in vegetable selling by rickshaw vans in Dhaka city. Results from this study found significant contributions of vegetable selling at a household level including: continuation of children’s education, improved food intake, access to information technology, and the savings generation. Informal businessmen also face several challenges that set back to reap maximum outcomes from this sector. Therefore, it is urgent to take informal economy-friendly initiatives at a macro-level to patronize this sector for getting optimum benefit from it.

Keywords

Case Study, Informal Economy, Mobile Vegetable Vendor, Bangladesh

Author Bio(s)

Mr. Md. Sanaul Haque Mondal is a PhD candidate at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and a lecturer with the Department of Social Relations at East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mr. Mondal completed BSC and MSC in Geography and Environment from Dhaka University, Bangladesh. After that he completed a post graduate diploma (PGD) in Disaster Management from Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies of Dhaka University, Bangladesh. He also completed a specialized Master’s program on Population, Reproductive health, Gender and Development from East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He received several national and international trainings on disasters, need assessment, climate change, food security, supply chain, sustainable tourism, etc. His research interests include Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Community Based Adaptation (CBA), Population policy, Environment, Urbanization, Migration, Sustainable development, Public health, Community engagement, and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Mr. Mondal has published several journals articles in different national and international journals. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: mshaquem@gmail.com.

Acknowledgements

The author is indebted to the honorable respondents of this research work for their tremendous cooperation to collect the data. The author is also thankful to Ms. Fatema-Tuj-Zohura for taking the notes during the interview session. Many thank to anonymous reviewers who helped a lot to improve the quality of the paper as well as to furnish this paper in such a presentable way. My special thanks to Dr. Rafiqul Huda Chaudhury for giving me an opportunity to participate in ‘Qualitative Research’ training program. The author declares no conflict of interests.

Publication Date

11-3-2017

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2017.3106

Recommended APA Citation

Mondal, M. H. (2017). Urban Informal Economy in Bangladesh: A Case Study on Mobile Vegetable Vendor in Dhaka City. The Qualitative Report, 22(11), 2893-2903. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.3106