This Ramadan, let's not bite off more than we can chew

The holy month of Ramadan is upon us when most of the world's more than 1.8 billion Muslims will fast from dawn to sunset, reinforcing their faith and enabling them to empathise with those who have less. It is a month of prayers and spiritual reflection with the special period presenting the opportunity to obtain divine rewards for good deeds and words. For the entire holy month, Muslims will abstain from eating or drinking during daylight hours, opening their fasts in the evening at the time of the call to the Maghrib prayer. Called iftar, this meal is often consumed with the community, with people gathering to open their fast together. Even during this month of moderation, authorities see a spike in food wastage which, according to Dubai Carbon, goes up from 2.7kg per person daily to 4.5kg in the UAE during Ramadan.
In line with the KT commitment to institute and continue with campaigns for the collective good of society, we're today introducing part five of our monthly #KTforGood series, targeting food wastage in our homes, hotels, malls, and educational institutions. While we must band together with the UAE Food Bank to ensure any surplus food can be donated to those who need it, we must realise that given its perishable nature, it is best to avoid a situation where we have surplus food on our hands. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), almost 11 per cent of the global population - that's one in nine people - go hungry each day despite the fact that we collectively produce enough to feed every human mouth in the world. And FAO says that, unfortunately, world hunger is on the rise, with the number of those facing chronic food deprivation increasing to nearly 821 million in 2017 from around 804 million in 2016.
Starting today and over the course of the next two weeks, KT's #SaveFoodSaveLives campaign will lay bare the problem and highlight potential local solutions that individuals, families, and communities can adopt to counter this global scourge. Displayed in KT's inimitable visual storytelling style in both print and online, we'll publish infographics and text, data and stats, content and analysis, tips and tricks over the 14-day period to bring you up-to-speed with the food wastage challenge that we as a nation face. According to Dubai Carbon, the UAE ranks among the top five nations for per capita waste generation in the world. That's one list where we'd not want the UAE to rank among the top and, in fact, would like to see it drop out of the top 10.
We'll also bring you an overview of the steps that the UAE's conscious hotels and restaurants are taking to avoid food wastage. You're invited to participate in this noble cause in this holiest of months by entering our #FoodSoldiers competition, which will celebrate families that plan their meals, shop smart, and conserve food in ingenious and innovative ways. Global food wastage remains perhaps one of the biggest challenges staring mankind in the face. According to studies, almost a third of all food produced for human consumption is wasted. That is a criminal waste of not just the food, but also all the resources that go into producing it. Consider this: it takes more than 15,000 litres of water to produce one kilogramme of beef and more than 17,000 litres to produce a kilogramme of chocolate. Let's remember that the next time we decide to fill our plate with more than we can chew.