Abstract:
Despite the progress made by women towards participation in vegetables and fruits vending,
their contribution in improving household assets ownership is yet to be adequately recognised.
The study specifically analysed assets ownership among women before and after been engaged
in vegetables and fruits vending and thereafter compared assets ownership between participants
and non-participants in vegetables and fruits vending. A cross-sectional research design guided
the study whereby a household survey and key informant interviews were used for data
collection. Accidental sampling technique was used to select participants and non-participants
of vegetables and fruits vending. Data were analysed using paired sample t-test to compare the
means of the two groups in terms of assets ownership and determine whether there is a
significant difference among them. The findings show that participating households were better
off compared to their counterparts, non-participating households. This is because the assets
ownership of the former improved after participation as accounted by 51.5percent with high
assets ownership, as opposed to 15.4 percent before participation. Despite that majority of the
households had high assets ownership, there were few households with low assets ownership,
and these accounted for 28.6 percent of the households. A comparison of household assets
ownership before and after participation shows a significant difference in the scores (t= 6.753;
p = 0.000). Therefore, it is concluded that participation in vegetables and fruits vending has an influence in household assets ownership though it is not spontaneous. Since participating
households had more household assets as opposed to their counterparts, it is recommended that
non-participating households should consider vegetables and fruits vending as an alternative
income generating activity. This would eventually and gradually enable them generate more
household income and increase assets ownership within their households.
