IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v1y2009i4p1366-1387d6550.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Negotiating Uncertainty: Jamaican Small Farmers’ Adaptation and Coping Strategies, Before and After Hurricanes—A Case Study of Hurricane Dean

Author

Listed:
  • Donovan Campbell

    (Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica)

  • Clinton Beckford

    (Faculty of Education, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada)

Abstract

In recent years, Jamaica has been seriously affected by a number of extreme meteorological events. The one discussed here, Hurricane Dean, passed along the south coast of the island in August 2007, damaging crops and disrupting livelihood activities for many small-scale farmers. This study is based on detailed ethnographic research in the southern coastal region of St. Elizabeth parish during the passage of Hurricane Dean, and explores the ways in which small farmers negotiate the stressors associated with hurricane events. The study employed a mix methods approach based on a survey of 282 farming households. The paper documents coping strategies employed by farmers in the immediate period of Hurricane Dean to reduce damage to their farming systems, and highlights the positive correlation between farmers’ perceptions of hurricanes and degree of damage to local farming systems. In addition, through an analysis of socio-economic and environmental data, the paper provides an understanding of the determinants of adaptive capacity and strategy among farmers in the area. The study indicated that despite high levels of vulnerability, farmers have achieved successful coping and adaptation at the farm level.

Suggested Citation

  • Donovan Campbell & Clinton Beckford, 2009. "Negotiating Uncertainty: Jamaican Small Farmers’ Adaptation and Coping Strategies, Before and After Hurricanes—A Case Study of Hurricane Dean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 1(4), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:1:y:2009:i:4:p:1366-1387:d:6550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/4/1366/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/1/4/1366/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan Lashley & Koko Warner, 2015. "Evidence of demand for microinsurance for coping and adaptation to weather extremes in the Caribbean," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 101-112, November.
    2. Clinton Beckford, 2018. "Climate change resiliency in Caribbean SIDS: building greater synergies between science and local and traditional knowledge," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 42-50, March.
    3. Guido, Zack & Knudson, Chris & Finan, Tim & Madajewicz, Malgosia & Rhiney, Kevon, 2020. "Shocks and cherries: The production of vulnerability among smallholder coffee farmers in Jamaica," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Spencer, Nekeisha & Polachek, Solomon, 2015. "Hurricane watch: Battening down the effects of the storm on local crop production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 234-240.
    5. Sarah S. Wiener & Nora L. Álvarez-Berríos & Angela B. Lindsey, 2020. "Opportunities and Challenges for Hurricane Resilience on Agricultural and Forest Land in the U.S. Southeast and Caribbean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, February.
    6. Mya Sherman & James Ford & Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas & María Valdivia & Alejandra Bussalleu, 2015. "Vulnerability and adaptive capacity of community food systems in the Peruvian Amazon: a case study from Panaillo," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 77(3), pages 2049-2079, July.
    7. Jhannel Tomlinson & Kevon Rhiney, 2018. "Assessing the role of farmer field schools in promoting pro-adaptive behaviour towards climate change among Jamaican farmers," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 86-98, March.
    8. Rose-Ann Smith, 2018. "Risk perception and adaptive responses to climate change and climatic variability in northeastern St. Vincent," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(1), pages 73-85, March.
    9. William J. Thompson & Varun Varma & Jonas Joerin & Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte & Daniel P. Bebber & Wilma Blaser-Hart & Birgit Kopainsky & Leonhard Späth & Bianca Curcio & Johan Six & Pius Krütli, 2023. "Smallholder farmer resilience to extreme weather events in a global food value chain," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(11), pages 1-22, November.
    10. Arlette S. Saint Ville & Gordon M. Hickey & Uli Locher & Leroy E. Phillip, 2016. "Exploring the role of social capital in influencing knowledge flows and innovation in smallholder farming communities in the Caribbean," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(3), pages 535-549, June.
    11. Chin‐Hsien Yu & Bruce A. McCarl & Jian‐Da Zhu, 2022. "Market response to typhoons: The role of information and expectations," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(2), pages 496-521, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:1:y:2009:i:4:p:1366-1387:d:6550. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.