Mitigating Household Food Wastage: Does Awareness of Monetary Damage Matter?
Mitigating Household Food Wastage: Does Awareness of Monetary Damage Matter?
Abid Jan* and Asad Ullah
ABSTRACT
The current study aimed to analyze the association of household food wastage with awareness of monetary damage due to food wastage. The data was collected from 379 randomly selected respondents (18 years and onward age group) in eight union councils of four towns of District Peshawar. Chi–square and Kendall’s Tau-b tests were used to ascertaining the association between variables (awareness of monetary damage due to food waste, and food wastage at the household level). The study revealed that food wastage had a highly significant and negative association with having alternatives to expensive food items (P=0.000 and tau-b=-0.256), expansive food is less wasted compared to less expensive (P=0.000 and tau-b=-0.276), economic loss due to food waste compelling to prioritize food waste reduction strategy (0.000 and tau-b=-0.268), encouraging households to perceive their food waste habits through the lens of financial loss (P= 0.000 and tau-b=-0.292), the decision to prepare a single meal with the intention of utilizing leftovers and economizing expenses (P=0.000 and tab-b=-0.222), and planning of monthly food budget based on food preferences and prevailing market prices (P=0.000 and tau-b=-0.320). Furthermore, socioeconomic status explains the association between awareness of monetary damage and food wastage. People from high socioeconomic status, under the influence of awareness of monetary damage due to food wastage, were more likely to reduce food wastage than those from middle and low socioeconomic status groups. Effective awareness drive to control food wastage using appropriate communication channels, training and facilitation of families in planning meals, optimal food storage, regular kitchen inventory, and checking and creative cooking practices involving leftovers were some of the study recommendations.
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