Corona triggered change in food habits

Study by PJTSAU reveals increase in expenditure incurred on milk by rural households during the period

Hyderabad: It has been a year since the announcement of lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, and a significant change has been noticed in the food consumption, both in rural and urban Telangana, during this period.

Compared to pre-lockdown days, there has been an increase in the expenditure incurred on milk by rural households during the lockdown period. Interestingly, the expenditure on non-vegetarian food came down significantly.

In case of urban households, there was a significant increase in amount spent on groceries, fruits, milk and beverages during lockdown in comparison to expenditure incurred before lockdown. These were the findings of a study conducted by Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) in May 2020 to compare the food consumption pattern among rural and urban households before and during lockdown in Telangana.

The data was collected from both urban and rural households with respect to seven categories of food, including groceries, vegetables, fruits, milk, non–vegetarian food, beverages and confectionary. The households were categorised into five income groups based on monthly household income. The categories ranged less than Rs 10,000, Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000, Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000, Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 and above Rs 50,000.

Among rural households, consumption of rice went up in the range of 3 to 15 per cent among various income groups, whereas among urban households, the rice consumption increased by 4 to 10 percent. The survey was conducted covering 250 to 280 households, and the feedback was sought using Google forms, which is a web-based app used to create forms for data collection purposes, said P Radhika, professor, School of Agriculture Business Management, PJTSAU.

Among the rural households in the income levels Rs30,000 – 50,000 and above Rs 50,000 categories, the quantity of oil consumption was 35 and 25 per cent respectively. On the other hand, it was between 18 and 20 per cent among various income categories in urban households. In terms of pulses consumption, there was a decline among rural households and there was an increase among the urban households. Consumption of sugar increased in the range of 3 to 21 per cent among rural households and 8 to 24 per cent among urban households.

The amount spent on vegetables rose by 2 to 12 per cent among rural households and by 4 to 8 per cent among urban households. Consumption of lamb meat went down among rural households in the range of 11 to 56 per cent during lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. Similarly, the decrease in case of poultry meat was between 3 and -37 per cent.

Among the urban households, except for the income group of Rs 30,000 – 50,000, all other income groups showed decrease in consumption of lamb meat in the range of 4 per cent to 30 per cent. In case of chicken consumption, there was an increase by about 28 per cent in the income group of Rs 30,000-50,000 and 9 per cent in the income group of above Rs 50,000. All other income groups showed a decrease between 9 and -19 percent, she said.