Vulnerability and Resilience Among Small Farmers in Jamaica: An Assessment of Climate Change, Economic Stress, and the Role of Water Management

ECU Co-Principal Investigators: Scott Curtis and Jeff Popke
Collaborative Research with UNCW (PI Doug Gamble)
3-years funded at $275,000

The project is about identifying the vulnerability and resilience of small scale Caribbean farming in the face of climate change and economic transformation.  The case study is southwestern Jamaica, but the results could easily be transferred to other small island developing states. Farmers are experiencing both climate change through unpredictable rainfall and rising temperatures and economic stressors of price of farm inputs and unreliable markets.   A mixed methods approach to the problem will be used, combining meteorological instrumentation, ethnographic interviews, and a water log kept by farmers.  Specifically, the research team is addressing water as a mediator between vulnerability and local outcomes.  Case study farms will be selected based on their irrigation practices: hand watering, drip irrigation, pipe and sprinkler, and greenhouse delivery.