ECU researchers to study farming in southwestern Jamaica

East Carolina University researchers Jeff Popke and Scott Curtis (Geography) received three-year funding of $275,000 for their project, “Vulnerability and Resilience Among Small Farmers in Jamaica: An Assessment of Climate Change, Economic Stress, and the Role of Water Management.”

In collaborative research with Doug Gamble of UNC-Wilmington, Curtis and Popke will study southwestern Jamaica to identify the vulnerability and resilience of small scale Caribbean farming in the face of climate change and economic transformation. The research team is addressing water as a mediator between vulnerability and local outcomes. Case study farms will be selected based on irrigation practices: hand watering, drip irrigation, pipe and sprinkler, and greenhouse delivery.

Popke

Curtis