CHAPTER 5
The Role of the Informal Sector
in Epworth’s Food System, Zimbabwe
Godfrey Tawodzera
Introduction
The informal sector refers to economic activities that take place in unin-
corporated, small, or unregistered enterprises that are not assessed for
taxation by a central government (ICLS, 2013; Paradza, 2009). The
economic activities undertaken in this sector generally occur outside the
rigid confinement of formal sector regulations and guidelines (Njaya,
2015). The greater proportion of the employment in the informal sector
is without social protection. The informal sector is an important compo-
nent of the global economy, as it provides employment and income to
millions of people and also contributes to economic growth. The Inter-
national Labor Organization (ILO, 2018) estimates that more than two
billion people work in the informal sector worldwide, while Johannes
G. Tawodzera (B)
Department of Environmental Science, University of Namibia, Windhoek,
Namibia
© The Author(s) 2023
L. Riley and J. Crush (eds.), Transforming Urban Food
Systems in Secondary Cities in Africa,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93072-1_5
85