Researchers from University of the West Indies Provide Details of New Studies and Findings in the Area of Risk Management (Agro-climate Services and Drought Risk Management In Jamaica: a Case Study of Farming Communities In Clarendon Parish): Risk Management

2022 JAN 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Risk Management. According to news originating from Kingston, Jamaica, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “For many generations, Caribbean smallholder farmers have used traditional knowledge to manage drought impacts. However, patterns of increased climate variability increasingly challenge traditional drought management practices, creating livelihood insecurities and uncertainties.”

Financial support for this research came from Office of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of the West Indies, “Climate Information Services (CIS) have been promoted as an agile risk management strategy to help farmers negotiate challenges of increased climate extremes. Yet, despite the promise and possibilities of CIS, there is limited evidence of CIS uptake and associated risk reduction across the Caribbean. A mixed-method research approach is used to examine the uptake of CIS among farmers (N = 356), testing the association with selected drought impact outcomes in one of Jamaica’s breadbasket regions. The associations between drought impacts and farmer accessibility and use of four (4) locally available CIS are assessed. Results indicate limited farmer uptake of mobile text and online climate information products, with less than 5 per cent of the sample having accessibility to online CIS. Farmers who are aware of, and use CIS, reported lower crop losses, less financial strain, and were more likely to reinvest immediately after drought events.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results provide empirical evidence of associations between farm-level use of CIS and drought risk management actions, which could be used to inform future drought management interventions.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Agro-climate Services and Drought Risk Management In Jamaica: a Case Study of Farming Communities In Clarendon Parish. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 2022. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9493)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Sarah Buckland, University of the West Indies, Dept. of Geography and Geology, Kingston, Jamaica.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12414. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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