Exploring rural inhabitants' perceptions towards food wastage during COVID-19 lockdowns: Implications for food security in Pakistan.

The lessening of food wastage, specifically among nations where about half of its worldwide quantity is produced, has turned to be a mammoth challenge for environmental, social and economic sustainability, and represents one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) within the Agenda 2030. The quantity of food being thrown away in spite of being in an edible condition has become alarming in middle and high income countries. The COVID-19 lockdown strategy, both at local and international levels, has expressively altered work, life and food consumption behaviors globally, directing to food wastage as a multi sectoral issue. Pakistan has no exception to such manifestations. The main objective of this study is to analyze the perceptions of rural people of Pakistan regarding food wastage during the COVID-19 pandemic. To evaluate whether behavior about food wastage among rural households varied or not during the pandemic, a descriptive survey was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire and 963 responses were selected for further empirical investigations. The findings of the study reveal that food waste actually decreased in spite of an increased amount of purchased food during the lockdown. Our results highlight that the effect of the pandemic has led to reduction in food wastage among rural respondents, an increased consciousness for the morals of food waste, and awareness of environmental impacts of food wastage. The conclusions of this study highlight that rural consumers of Pakistan are emerging with a new level of responsiveness about food wastage with possible positive impact on the environment in terms of decreased greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and other pollutants. The study findings imply that this pandemic time provides a suitable window to raise awareness about food wastage among rural as well as urban households while contemplating effective strategies to overcome the issue of food wastage in the country.

1. Introduction

“To eat or not to eat bread is neither a matter of taste or greed, nor a luxury; but it has been a necessity for centuries” [1, 2]. The mounting magnitude and importance of food wastage has caught the attention of researchers as well as policy makers [3, 4]. Food wastage is a key issue for several developed and developing countries posing major implications on the economy and environment [5]. Food wastage is considered as the part of edible food that remains un-consumed [6], having material for human’s use which is consequently discharged, degraded, contaminated, or lost [7]. Especially, household’s food wastage is a major portion of total food loss perceived as an outcome of a consumer’s decision, like buying too many food items, preparing extra meals, and not reuse of left-over food [8, 9]. It is estimated that about 800 million people are undernourished or facing hunger at global level and this food security issue may be resolved by reduction of food wastage [10, 11]. There is food waste equal to $1 trillion annually worldwide and is a source of heavy financial burdens on the states [12]. The quantity of food wastage is much greater at the household level as compared with the business level, so considering the households as main contributors to food waste [13, 14].

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease-2019 as a pandemic [15]. To restrict the spread of the disease, the worldwide nations took effective restraint measures with constraints on daily routines like social distancing, temporary closure of universities, schools, business, home confinement, and remote working [16]. Food consumption and purchasing habits are also affected due to COVID-19. Due to lockdowns in many countries, bars and restaurants were closed as a result of stay-at home orders. The sales of restaurants drastically decreased while sales of food items increased from online retailers and grocery stores. Some food items in stores became scarce due to disruptions in food supply chains, and these disruptions created the fear of shortage, so households started to increase the quantity of food items. This increase in food purchases caused a rise in food waste. Consequently, the fear of disruptions and lockdowns changed the purchasing behavior of people and an increase in food stocks was observed. So the food waste behavior during the pandemic also got special attention in the literature [17]. However, it is possible that the impact of COVID-19 on food waste behavior will vary from one territory to another depending on many social and economic factors. So, the case of Pakistan with special focus to its rural areas, is particularly interesting. Pakistan is the 6th most populated country in the world, having a population of about 225.2 million. Millions of people in the country don’t have an approach to balanced and healthy food, while food wastage is also massive in the country on a daily basis. The annual food wastage is estimated at around 36 million tons in parties, hotels, weddings, and households [18]. On the other hand, Pakistan is counted as one of those countries who suffer from an alarming level of hunger as highlighted by the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. Pakistan stands at 88th position out of 107 countries across the globe. World Food Program (WFP) 2020 highlights that about 1/4 of households in the country (49 million people) are facing moderate food insecurity while 10% of the household (21 million people) are facing serious food insecurity. Table 1 presents the situation of food insecurity in urban and rural areas of the country. The “Household Integrated Economic Survey” (HIES) depicts that the proportional share of high food insecure households in Pakistan is 10% while the proportionate share of moderate food insecure households have been reached to 30% due to the pandemic [18]. According to the survey, “severe food insecurity was higher in urban areas (13%) compared to rural areas (8%), while moderate food insecurity was reported 33% in urban areas and 30% in rural areas. Moreover, with regards to Pakistan’s provinces, the highest percentages were reported in Sindh, with 52% of households experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity, followed by Baluchistan and Punjab with 39%, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 33%.”

Table 1

Food insecurity in Pakistan.

	ICT		Punjab		Sindh		KPK		Baluchistan		GB		AJK		KP-NMD
Region	M	S	M	S	M	S	M	S	M	S	M	S	M	S	M	S
Rural	19.8	18.9	19.6	16.5	47.1	21.7	15.1	5.9	42.1	29.1	12.1	2	23.9	12.9	26.9	11.9
Urban	6.9	8.3	7.9	7	22	8.5	17	6	23.9	15.7	8.1	1.9	10.6	5	-	-

Source: (WFP 2020); World Food Program

Note: All values are in percentage. M = Moderate Insecurity; S = Severe Insecurity

Abbreviations; AJK: Azad Jammu and Kashmir; GB: Gilgit Baltistan; ICT: Islamabad Capital Territory; KPK: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, KP-NMD: Kyber Pakhtunkhwa-Newly Merged Districts.

The situation of food security has strong links with the human capital of the country. According to “Food and Agriculture Organization” (FAO) of the “United Nations” (UN), an economy with high levels of malnutrition costs around three to four percent of GDP. In the case of Pakistan, it is estimated that malnutrition and its consequences cost the country 3% of GDPevery year, so the government set a target to achieve sustainable food security by 2025 [19]. It is in dire need of time to analyze the behavior of people during pandemic regarding food waste with special reference to rural areas of Pakistan when income levels are contracted. The awareness of people on the topic will be helpful in overcoming the problem of food wastage in the country.

The earlier research uncovered the different dimensions of food waste. First, the present literature on food wastage behavior has been significantly led by qualitative explorations investigating various problems relevant to barriers and motives to reduce food wastage. However, these studies were not able to create causality and connections among the concerned variables [20]. Second, earlier studies emphasized on understanding the quantity of wasted food and its worldwide effect on the food system [11]. Additionally, determinants of food wastage are quantified and studied well (e.g., 11, 20). But little focus is given to the perceptions of rural people residing in Pakistan towards food waste, especially after the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

This study examines the behavior of food waste in rural households of Pakistan during the pandemic. Rural residents usually bear accessibility restrictions and food purchases may be well scheduled with the opportunity that the nearest food retail outlet is remote and transportation may not be readily available and costly. Reduction in food waste not only requires the determination of responsible factors but must recognize the perceptions of rural people during the pandemic with respect to gender, income level, size of households and distance for shopping. The study findings may help policymakers to devise policy in rural areas of Pakistan for prevention of food waste in the country.

2. Materials and methods

A questionnaire in the local national language (Urdu) was administered in rural areas of Pakistan using the online platform and telephonic interviews. The respondents were contacted through mobile telephones if they do not have an easy access to the internet. A procedure of stratified sampling was adopted that produced a representative sample of the population. Stratified sampling is a method of partitioning a population into sub-populations called stratum. The members of the population are classified into homogenous subgroups. The sample was stratified using age, gender, income. Every member of the population is assigned only a single stratum. Then observations of each stratum are gained through simple random sampling so sampling errors are reduced in this way. There was random contact with the rural people of the country and few screening questions were asked with respect to their food waste behaviors, gender, age, and income level. The quotas were specified with respect to the age, gender, income and number of households. These quotas of different categories made the representative sample of the Pakistani population. The respondents of the survey were allowed to participate until the quotas of different categories were filled. Only those 18 years aged respondents were considered who confirmed their status as main food purchaser at household level. The final sample consisted of 963 rural household consumers of Pakistan due to evaluation of rural behavior of people about food wastage. Among the sample, 678 respondents provided information through online means while information from 285 respondents was collected through telephones. The data is collected through questionnaire and interviews in the period from 1st -15th March 2021. A set of questions was asked about purchasing behavior of rural consumers, their food expenditures, production of food waste and food relevant behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. A consent form is obtained from participants willing to participate in the survey, then questionnaire was given or interviewed the questions of the questionnaire. The respondents who filled the questionnaire were asked to submit the consent form. The consent was taken from respondents at first, who were contacted through telephones. The respondents who were not willing to give consent or submit a consent form, are excluded from the sample. The respondents having age more than 18 years and main purchaser of food are allowed to participate in the survey. A set of qualitative questions was asked from respondents about their food purchasing behavior, waste productions, food expenditures and other food related behaviors. The data collected through online forums and mobile phones is treated collectively for empirical analysis as the same questionnaire was conveyed to both groups of respondents. Likert scale is used to quantify the information. The questionnaire is given in the S1 Appendix. The collected data validating the findings of the study will be provided on request.

The variables are described in the Table 2.

Table 2

Descriptions of variables.

Variables	Descriptions
FW	Food waste decreased, increased or remained unchanged: Response on a scale from 1 (decreased)—5 (increased).
FPD	= 1 if amount of purchased food decreased during pandemic otherwise 0
FPI	= 1 if amount of purchased food increased during pandemic otherwise 0
FPU	= 1 if amount of purchased food unchanged during pandemic otherwise 0
FQD	= 1 if frequency of purchased food decreased during pandemic otherwise 0
FQI	= 1 if frequency of purchased food increased during pandemic otherwise 0
FQU	= 1 if frequency of purchased food unchanged during pandemic otherwise 0
GEN	= 1 if female otherwise 0
AGE	Age in years
NHH	No. of people in household
LYY	= 1 if annual income is less than Rs. 300000 otherwise 0
MYY	= 1 if annual income is Rs. 300001–600000 otherwise 0
HYY	= 1 if annual income is more than Rs. 600000 otherwise 0

An ordered logit model is regressed to determine the behavior of rural respondents regarding household food waste during Covid-19. The biographic information is a source to determine the behavior of food wastage in different age groups. The income level of respondents is categorized into three categories because the per capita nominal income of Pakistan is about $1544 (Rs. 300000 estimated) in 2020. Food waste (FW) is a dependent variable which measures the change in amount of wasted food during the pandemic. The dependent variable is measured through the ordered nature of Likert scale by using an ordered logit model. The summary statistics of the variables are given in Table 3.

Table 3

Summary statistics of variables.

Variable	Observations	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min.	Max.
FW	963	2.3	0.91	1	5
FPD	963	0.14	0.33	0	1
FPI	963	0.59	0.43	0	1
FPU	963	0.27	0.38	0	1
FQD	963	0.39	0.41	0	1
FQI	963	0.28	0.37	0	1
FQU	963	0.31	0.42	0	1
GEN	963	0.55	0.50	0	1
AGE	963	38.15	18.55	18	73
NHH	963	3.94	3.21	2	10
LYY	963	0.65	0.44	0	1
MYY	963	0.38	0.48	0	1
HYY	963	0.19	0.20	0	1

The coefficients of an ordered logit model assume the same relationship among all pairs of the groups and only one coefficient represents each variable (i.e., parallel regression assumption or proportional odds assumption). It is the main difference between the ordered logit model and a multinomial logit model. The Brant test is used to verify the assumption of stratification. The Brant test confirms the presence of proportional odds assumption considered by the ordered logit model (χ2 = −2641.28).

3. Results and discussion

Summary statistics of the respondents are reported in Table 3. The mean age of the participants is 38.15 years while mostly participants are male (58%). The average size of households is 3.94 and annual mean income of households is greater than 300000 Pakistani rupees. During the pandemic, about 57% and 20% of the sample participants stated that the quantity of wasted food reduced substantially and reduced mildly respectively. Food waste behavior remained unchanged of 19% respondents while only 3% and 1% respondents reported that their amount of wasted food increased mildly and substantially, respectively. The visits to grocery stores for purchasing of food and quantity of purchased food has increased but quantity of wasted food generally reduced. There are also some observations of increased wastage of food where frequency of purchase and quantity of purchased food increased to a greater extent. This increase in food waste might be due to the type of purchased food like products with shorter shelf life but these perceptions require further investigation. The findings of estimated ordered logit model are given in Table 4 where food waste is a dependent variable.

Table 4

Results of ordered logit model.

Variable	Coefficients	Odds Ratio	Robust Standard Error
FPD	-0.425	0.474**	0.178
FPI	-0.313	0.543*	0.125
FQD	-0.220	0.607*	0.124
FQI	-0.401	0.573*	0.164
GEN	-0.072	0.819	0.121
AGE	-0.012	0.875	0.011
NHH	-0.131	0.863***	0.043
LYY	-0.436	0.481***	0.244
MYY	-0.313	0.669	0.315
/cut1	-1.988		0.355
/cut2	1.353		0.364
/cut3	4.181		0.665
Log Pseudo Likelihood	-1538.572
Observation	963

Note:

*, **, *** shows significance at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively.

The proportional odds ratios are used to discuss and easy interpretation of the findings of the ordered logit model. These odds ratios are determined from estimated coefficients of the model. The odds ratios of the variables FPD (0.474, p < 0.05) and FQD (0.607, p < 0.01) are significant at 5% and 1% respectively. These findings reveal that purchasers of household food decreased the quantity of purchased food and also reduced the frequency of food purchasing. These food purchasers are not intended to increase the quantity of wasted food during the pandemic as compared with those participants who remained unaltered with respect to their habits of amount food purchasing and frequency of food purchasing as supported by earlier studies [11, 16–17, 20]. It can be logically justified that participants who decreased the quantity of purchased food are not likely to increase the amount of wasted food as findings of Graham et al. [20] are similar.

In the same way, the odds ratio of the variables FPI (0.543, p < 0.01) and FQI (0.573, p < 0.01) are also significant at 1%, showing that participants who raised the frequency of food shopping and quantity of purchased food are not intended to increase the wastage of food during the pandemic as compared with those who remained altered their behavior with respect to frequency of food shopping and amount of purchased food. The odds ratios of the variables NHH (0.863) and LYY (0.481) are also significant both at 1% depicting that as the size of household decreases there is more probability to increase the amount of food waste. Moreover, decreasing levels of income is also a reason for reduction of food wastage [15]. It can be found that low income respondents are less likely to waste the food as compared with middle and higher income respondents so these findings implies that budget constraints led to decrease the level of food waste. There are some motivational factors found which create the differences for food waste between low income group and high income group. It may be due to awareness and tight budget constraints of low income respondents about wastage of food. This seems compatible with behavior shown during the economic crisis due to lock down where the intentions of respondents, specifically those on low income, is to decrease food wastage and consume every item that has been bought as findings are consistent with earlier study [8]. There is a very small number of respondents who increased the amount of wasted food during the pandemic but this increase of food waste was due to increased quantity of purchased food. It was reported by the 62% participants that increased quantity of cooked food was a reason for wastage of food. These findings highlight that food wastage in a small percentage of participants was due to panic buying or stockpiling phenomena that drove the participant to purchase more food than they required. It can be derived that the increased quantity of food waste was because of food inventory at homes that was more than their real needs as pointed out by also by Smith and Landry [6].

Consumer behaviors in their eating and buying habits are significantly changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic [3]. The findings of this study depict that the amount of purchased food by the consumers has been increased during this pandemic due to lock down as movements of people are restricted by the governments to avoid the spread of the disease. The increase in the amount of purchased food occurred due to fear of disruptions in food supply and risk of being infected when moving outside of the house. It was hypothesized that an increased amount of purchased food would be a source to increase the wastage of food in rural areas of Pakistan [19] but findings of the study reveal that food waste was decreased during the pandemic. In other words, the behavior of consumers to compile the food stock did not lead to increase in food waste. There may be several reasons for this behavior. It is possible that the decreased level of incomes during the pandemic turned the consumers to be more conscious about food wastage [19]. On the other hand, risk aversion behavior from disease caused a greater attention towards food consumption and purchasing habits that led to decrease the food wastage [12]. The reduction in food waste also released the pressure from waste management in the rural areas of the country [14]. The waste management authorities have to use more resources and efforts to pick the waste from rural areas. The reduced quantity of wasted food is helpful to save resources and reduce the burden on the waste management system. If these findings prevail in the future, there will be a lot of implications for this changing behavior among consumers such as lowering food bills, disposal costs for wastage. Some future studies may explore these implications in further depth with respect to geographical contexts and at national level.

Moreover, the size of the household played an important role with respect to food waste during the pandemic in rural areas of the country [15]. The findings of the study reveal that larger families have less amount of wasted food, which might be due to efficient re-use of leftover food. It may be due to behavior that emerged after reduction in income level of people to consume everything which is purchased. Moreover, people have much more time during lockdown to manage and prepare food in more efficient manners, as respondents highlighted in the survey.

It was found that a small percentage of respondents reportedan increase in food waste due to increased food stocks. The fear of food shortage caused “panic buying” behavior and purchased excessive food remained unused and spoiled [19]. These wasted food items consist of fresh food items that have a shorter span of life. This aspect needs further exploration in future studies. Overall, the findings of the study show that increase in food waste was minimal during the pandemic due to inefficient management of food by the respondents. This issue may be handled by general awareness of people by assuring better food supplies.

4. Conclusions

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 had altered perceptions and ways of consumers using food products in a significant way. This study explored the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on awareness of rural Pakistani consumers, their behaviors and attitudes towards food waste and consumption. People are spending time at home and outdoor dining is restricted due to the pandemic, so there is a major change in the behaviors and attitudes of people with respect to health and food. People are more conscious to manage their budgets in healthy food and avoid food wastage. This behavior is not limited to urban areas, but rural consumers are also in line with these global changes. There is a need to explore the perceptions of rural people of Pakistan towards food waste in the time of pandemic as it is a less focused area in the literature. This paper is an attempt to explore the factors influencing the quantity of wasted food in rural areas of the country. Rural households usually bear accessibility constraints and their behaviors towards food purchase are well planned because grocery stores are remote and transportation means are costly and may not be available readily. So there are clear and vast changes in the way people are interacting, shopping and eating around the food in rural areas also. The prime objective of the study was to determine the food wastage behavior and consumer trends about food purchases in rural areas of Pakistan during the pandemic of COVID-19. The general findings of the study conclude that food consumption and quantity of food purchased increased due to shut down/limited operations of restaurants but food wastage decreased in rural areas of the country. These results suggest that the pandemic increased the level of awareness among rural people to avoid food wastage that creates significant environmental and economic problems in the country. The rural inhabitants have also realized that wasted food is a source of methane gas emissions, which is more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. So we can also protect the environment by avoiding food wastage. The earlier studies on the topic focused on the urban areas of the country but this study is a first attempt to explore the food waste and food purchasing behavior in rural areas of Pakistan during Covid-19 pandemic. So the findings of this study has important implications for devising policy about rural areas of the country. The COVID-19 has altered the behavior of people about food wastage, so this behavior may be prolonged in future through proper awareness. This change in behavior will be fruitful for the environment and the economy, both. The food resources will be saved for the future generations and the growing population while the environment will be protected from methane. The earlier studies highlight that food wastage decreased in different regions of the world during the pandemic but there is ample space to investigate this problem in many more dimensions such as behaviors about food waste among different socio demographic groups. It would also be interesting to know the persistence of changed behavior with respect to food waste even after COVID-19 in future studies.

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