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.