DOHA: A prominent businessman says that food consumption goes up during Ramadan in the Muslim world because families buy more to feed the poor and host feasts for relatives, friends and neighbours — and not because their own intake goes up.
Ali Hassan Al Khalaf, a former official of the economy ministry, who now runs a chain of retail stores, said it is difficult to control rising food consumption during Ramadan due to well-entrenched traditions in the Islamic world.
“There are social and religious compulsions and that push up food consumption during Ramadan. People do charity and want to feed the poor,” said Al Khalaf.
“What is against Islam is that you prepare a lot of food and waste much of it, so it is better you give it to the poor,” he told local Arabic daily Al Watan.
According to him, in the first 20 days of Ramadan, the emphasis in families is on buying food items, and the stress later in the month is on purchasing clothing and gifts as Eid Al Fitr nears.
A director of Lulu Hypermarkets told the daily the demand for food products in the fasting month doubles. “It goes up 200 percent,” Mohamed Rasheed Al Hashmi said.
He said sales pick up substantially during the first four days of Ramadan and then there is a nearly 50 percent drop.
On Ramadan days, more customer turnouts are before iftar and after the night prayers (taraweeh).
Prominent Islamic cleric Ali Mohiuddin Al Qurradaghi said higher food consumption was against the very concept of Ramadan which is a month of piety.
The fact that people must fast for 15 hours a day during Ramadan means that their food intake should also come down by at least two-thirds, he said. Food security is a challenge in the Islamic world as a whole with countries like Egypt importing some 70 percent of their food requirements.
“In the GCC states the situation is more alarming as they import some 80 to 95 percent of their food needs,” said the cleric, adding: “That should make us exercise more restraint in our food intake”.
