The Socio-Technical Architecture of Post-Consumer Food Waste: An Empirical Evaluation of Urban Household Dynamics in Nigeria

Aliyu Mansur Sulaiman; Miroslav  Popović; Dragoljub  Bajić; Mustapha  Umar; Rafiu  Olalekan Yusuf

doi:10.30544/RSD116

Autori

Aliyu Mansur Sulaiman Singidunum University, Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Belgrade, Serbia Author
Miroslav Popović Singidunum University, Department of Environment and Sustainable Development, Belgrade, Serbia Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5559-3996
Dragoljub Bajić University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Belgrade, Serbia Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4839-1093
Mustapha Umar Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology, Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4432-3816
Rafiu Olalekan Yusuf Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Kaduna, Nigeria Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30544/RSD116

Ključne reči:

Keywords: food waste; post-harvest loss; urban infrastructure; food security; Sub-Saharan Africa.

Apstrakt

ABSTRACT

Traditional agricultural discourse distinguishes upstream food loss in developing countries from downstream consumer waste in high-income countries. But rapidly urbanizing and changing economic conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa are creating a transitional environment where household food conservation efforts are being undermined by the challenges posed by municipal utility failures and structural bottlenecks. In this study, we have investigated the behavioral factors, socio-demographic patterns, and infrastructural barriers leading to post-consumer food waste in urban Nigerian households. We used a mixed-methods survey to measure sample sizes and used the usual finite population models as Utiya does. The digital distribution network was mostly male (76.1%) and educated (73.6%), and therefore the sample was biased towards the highly educated group of people. The empirical data show that although 66.3% of urban consumers are obsessed with market affordability, purchasing things in bulk to protect against higher food prices, to do so, they often are not able to do things themselves due to system failure. Frequent self-reported planning habits like shopping lists (69.5%) and freezing leftovers (44.2%) are typically negated by power grid failures in urban areas that cause domestic storage spoilage soon after purchase. Moreover, the cross-stage spillover effect was found to be particularly pronounced: 12.6% of consumers can trace household waste back to transit delays and poor road infrastructure that physically hurt and destroy produce before it reaches urban retail centers. These findings indicate that urban food waste in developing regions is not just a matter of consumer choices but a structural problem. The problem of reducing urban solid waste and feeding the people in the region needs to be addressed in a way that supports urban food literacy and public investment in reliable municipal grids and solar-powered cold chains.

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