Social Media's Effect on Individual Behavior: Why Spread Awareness?

Introduction

Interaction with social media can influence each person’s behavior individually. Therefore, purpose of spreading awareness among the public, the researcher has preferred Documentary approach. Selection of topic is based on the worldwide issue that is Food Wastage.

Food waste means that edible food which merely gets discarded. Food wastage is followed up by the human consumption. By the aspects of oversupply in market instabilities or individual grocery shopping and eating habits result in spoilage. The reasons of food waste commonly occur in between the progression of food cycle chain.

Such as at the phases of producing, processing, selling and consuming. There is adequate food to feed every living person. But people could be seen starving with hunger. In the present era, amount of food that is 1.3 billion tons gets discarded every year. Globally, each year the massive amount of wasting food is produced which can almost feed more than 1 billion starved people. Food produced in America is wasted approximately 40 percent.

Every day, 1 out 8 people go to sleep without taking any meal. Food can be wasted anywhere whether it is full-grown, retailed or consumed (FAO, 2013).

In the world, Pakistan is considered as food insecure nations. As 61 million Pakistanis are food insecure, therefore on the food security risk index, it has been placed at 11th position for being in extremely danger zone. Each year hundreds of people suffer from starvation and other deficiencies which eventually results in death. Underweight childbirths has been a concern because of malnourished women (FAO, 2017). As 2.5 million offsprings undergo from several disabilities and undersized development.

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Majority of the children are less than the age of 5 and same conditions can be seen in other countries. i.e. Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Yemen. (Daily Times, 2016). Pakistani population between 2014 and 2016, 22 percent was declared malnourished. In Thar, percentage of the families who can buy food is only 7 percent and other 93 percent of the population struggles the unavailability of food. Hence, people lend money from other sources to purchase food but due to poverty people are not able to return loan on time (Malik, 2017).

Food waste is a complex problem that has economic, social and environmental aspects. Food is unexploited in innumerable procedures i.e. household, canteens, restaurants, carting and hotels. Food is majorly wasted when people over excesses the meal in their plate without considering the amount they can actually eat. Situation also gets adverse when people serve 20 to 25 dishes on only one event. This usually happens on events like wedding and 40 percent food prepared simply goes to waste. In restaurants, surplus food is also wasted at extreme levels as well. Although it could be collected and distributed to homeless people to fill their hunger. (Rao, 2011). The heart of household food waste is actually the lack of planning and management while improvising food process. For instance, individual have not enough skills to prepare food, buying items that are not currently required, poor storage management and preparing oversized meal which eventually gets expired. All consequences leads towards adversity (Steven, 2014).

Poor villagers with access to bare minimum necessities spend resources and energy, hoping for a good harvest that city lads, in forgetfulness misspend as if they are limitless.

Basic Idea

This documentary is based on the idea that the people living in the cities deliberately or unintentionally waste a lot of food on events like weddings, parties and even on religious rituals or events. While people in villages go to the extra mile to earn their living and grow grains, the city folks on the other hand have made new scales to measure someone’s financial status, the more the variety of food products on your event the more reputable you are. But all that extra food goes to waste. Government should take harsh steps against this late night culture because if it is ignored a day will come when the percentage of malnourished people in Pakistan is going to increase beyond our control as it is said precaution is always better than cure.

According to a survey Pakistani spent half of their household budget on food in 2012 which was the highest. 46 percent of the total food yielded in Pakistan is wasted which is around 36 million tones (Sheikh, 2014).

Target Audience

Through this documentary the researcher will emphasize the very issue and as per research, the trend of wasting food is common in families and people with deep pockets especially the youngsters who are unaware of the fact that where money comes from and where it goes.

Need of the Project

The world we are living in is facing a lot of social economic and environmental issues. Scarcity of food is one of them. In the world, there are minimum 34 countries that are facing very severe deficiency of food (Arab, 2016). So, it is essential that we should pay attention to our dealings with food, how we waste it and how we can prevent its wastage. By doing that we will rectify the two situations, one the social degradation and the other shortage of food to greater extent. And researcher will bring the issue to the limelight through this short film.

Scope

On the societal aspects, individual’s frame of mind needs to be concerned in respect of food whenever it is discarded. In the same country, it is unacceptable situation where millions of people go to sleep hungry while other people waste food without being bothered. Basically the purpose is convey the notion that someone’s ignorance becomes visible in waste where poor searches for his food to eat and that’s humiliation.

Clarity

Rich lads most often having inherited fortune can afford all the luxuries quite easily. They enjoy all the basic needs and that with a very little effort. As mostly they inherit the fortune, they waste resources at the cost of it, which seem superfluous to them no matter how scarce they are.

Despite the fact, the other side of the story is relatively struggling. The village folks are always pinching pennies. They work hard with the minimum or no resources available. Grow food and grains and receive a very little money in return. Being able to see the unkindness of life, they are always cautious while spending resources, while the same get wasted at the hands of modern city lads.

Through this documentary the researcher would like to show ever struggling yet simple and content life of the country men while on the other hand imbalanced and luxurious urban life. Wastage of food by no means is a sign of the richness that is what the aim to point in the documentary. That we have made our own scales and measures of richness, repute and credibility. Not having 90 dishes at wedding or at graduation party doesn’t mean that one is poor, one will still be considered estimable.

Literature Review

Literature reviews are written to provide various theories, methodology and findings to demonstrate how the researcher has explored the information regarding to the particular subject.

The food supply chain (FSC) of vegetable and animal product is separated into five phases, the food losses and wastes associated with each of these stages: First, agricultural production where food losses occurs because of animal sickness or death and mechanical damage. Second, postharvest handling and storage in which degradation take place during transportation. Third, in processing dreadful conditions happens in industrial or domestic management. Forth, distribution, losses and wastes in the market system, e.g. supermarket. Fifth, consumption where losses and wastes arises while spending in the household and restaurants. (Gustavsson, 2011).

As above mentioned is the complete food supply chain, however, the focus of the chain is food waste in relation to consumption. Also, to trigger behavioural changes in consumers in respect to food waste commencement. Social practice theory (SPT) is a framework utilized by social science investigators to examine how diverse individuals affect their world and their environments in a society. Consumer behavior has many patterns but somehow these patterns ignore the fact that the practices, preferences, and actions of consumers are formed within a societal context. Therefore they are insufficient when it comes to explaining behavioural changes. (Holtz, 2004).

In general, social practices indicate to the daily tasks that are performed within a society. These could be going to work, shopping, taking out the trash etc. These are not just simple activities but are rather meaningful to people and have a significant role in their everyday life. Frequently these actions become one’s routine. They include many other different types of elements, such as skills, knowledge and sensations, skills. For instance, when taking a shower, the amount of water used and the duration of the shower will depend on some sort of specific standard of cleanliness (Shove, Pantzar and Watson, 2012). These small actions have a large impact on societies and resources. An understanding of the social customs behind these actions could possibly be the key to stimulating behavioural change towards lowering resource consumption. (Holtz, 2004).

The consumer choice is a central issue of consumer theory which is a fragment of microeconomics. Calculations made by individual consumers or households on which goods and how much of each good to buy are not always conscious. These decisions are typically made with the goal of maximizing one’s own contentment and to cover basic needs such as housing, food and clothing. When exploiting utility for the consumer, limited resources as income and time need to be taken into account as well. Thus the consumer choice problem is about maximizing utility given a fixed amount of time or set budget reflecting total income. (Graas, 2014)

Some of the main causes that subsidize to household food waste includes household size and composition which concludes that adults waste more than children. Studies in Europe suggests household demographics that elderly people waste less food than young people. Retired person households waste the least amount of food. This is due to the fact that these households normally contain fewer people, but it also due to the fact that older people are more dedicated on saving and recycling, and are often financially restricted (Gjerris and Gaiani, 2013). Several studies have revealed that women tend to waste more food but are also more likely to take the initiative in reducing food waste when compared to men (Secondi, Principato and Laureti, 2015). For instance, in some cultures there are a great variety of dishes, but only a few key ingredients are used. Surveys found that lower income families waste more food due to the fact they are less likely to plan their shopping and possess a “live in the moment” attitude (Wrap, 2007). Conversely, other studies have shown that more educated people with higher disposable income waste more than poorer households (Secondi, Principato and Laureti, 2015).

Castro, the director of World Food Programme, in the Global hunger index concludes the three year term and declared Pakistan a food sufficient country but also a state that is incapable of providing food to its entire population. According to her, 43 percent of the country’s population remains food insecure, with 18% facing a severe shortage (Rana, 2011). Each day, it takes 3500 liters to produce food for a person and 2.5 liters of water is sufficient for drinking. Natural resources extracted from land and soil gets negatively affected by food wastage. Global Food Security, a recent report by the US National Intelligence Council declares that deteriorating food security will almost certainly subsidize to social disruptions and political instability. By wasting food we are actually indirectly wasting water, and this water problem is the most dangerous problem that we are experiencing or are about to experience. (GFS, 2015)

Pakistan has the world largest irrigation system. Regardless of having all the available resources, country has still inaccessibility of sufficient food. Pakistan National Income Statistics reveals the agriculture Gross Domestic Products growth rate was only 1.5 percent in 2007 (Usman, 2011). Oxfam Charitable Organization (1942) its latest investigation indicated that Pakistan is among the 21 nations that are facing food crises due to increasing prices of food commodities. Sometimes reduction in crop yield leads to shortage of food which could sometimes emerge because of sudden unfavorable weather conditions, water unavailability or flood etc (Oxfam, 2011).

It might occurs due to following reasons: rising energy prices, due to increase in cost of production and foreign exchange system. One of the today’s food crisis reason is lack of modern agricultural technology in Pakistan. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (1945) of United Nations (UN) Pakistan is leading producer and supplier of the crops included: Cotton, Rice, Wheat, Sugarcane etc (FAO, 2005). The calamities of food shortage would be reduced by well-organized management of available resources e.g. synthesis seeds usage, better water management, increased role of government for ensuring operative safety systems (Altaf, 2013).

It is a misfortune that in a country whose 70 percent of the population is involved in agricultural sector and has a fertile land is encountering such type of adversity. The administration has made floods and bad security situations responsible for the tragedies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for the poorest functioning in agriculture sector. On the other hand, general public consider that numerous other sources are responsible for this i.e: increasing fuel rate and fertilizer expenses, unavailability of water and absence of concern of the government are the notable reasons for such struggle (Angus, 2010).

Provinces of Pakistan, Baluchistan and Sindh, are underprivileged regarding proper food where mostly people or children are dying every day because of unavailability of food or drinking the filthy water. By the government, these two provinces are left unnoticed where communities are not acquiring three times of sufficient food. The United Nations Children’s Fund, 1964, report concluded that half of all child deaths in Pakistan can be documented to deprived sustenance. Presently, with a general population of about 200 million, thousands of people go to sleep starving and millions ache with undernourishment and tendencies acclaim that such effects will induce declination (Watkins, 2016).

According to World Food Programme regardless of the growth in production of crops, Pakistan has undergone a severe decline in food security in recent years due to an amalgamation of armed forces action, environmental disaster and financial insecurity. In 2010, the country come across the remorseful natural disaster in years when flooding immersed almost one fifth of the country’s mainland. Infrastructures were demolished because of floods and almost 20 million people without access to food, clean water, and health services and relentlessly destroyed the country’s agricultural sector. In between 2003 and 2009, the food insecure people rose from 38 percent of the total population to 50 percent; it is projected that this number has risen further to 90 million individuals in the outcome of the 2010 floods (WFP 2012).

Significance of Study

In Pakistan, an adequate amount of food is yielded to sustain the complete population. Conversely, because of food waste possibly 6 out of 10 people go to bed starved (Imran, 2017). Objective is to spread awareness among people regarding serious hunger level. Purpose of the documentary is to educate individuals regarding surplus food that it should be consumed in a positive manner rather disposing in garbage. In order to bring a change, it is necessary to make public aware and allow this as a tool of communication with them.

Food waste has the number of proportions; not only it is preferable for each individual and household to reduce food waste and as they can save money on using all of their edible food before buying new groceries. Some people can save on their utility bill if they are paying for the amount of waste thrown out and live in a city that does provide garbage cans for organic waste. If each individual is capable to lessen particularly their edible food waste, this will manage to a less significant quantity of food claimed in the marketplace. The consequences of a diminished entire demand for foodstuff will eventually offer to lower transportation costs, a reduced amount of pressure on the farming production which direct the food being introduced from other states, frequently from developing countries. This food has an opportunity cost in that the food could have been consumed domestically, but subsequently these countries need the profits they get by exporting the food, this alternative is often preferred. Thus, it is debatable that condensing food waste in the industrial countries could bring better food security measures in developing countries. Less local food waste will give the public waste disposal service less issues when it comes to handling waste. This will profit the society economically, since there will be less finance required for waste disposal.