Texas A&M University LibrariesTexas A&M University LibrariesTexas A&M University Libraries
    • Help
    • Login
    OAKTrust
    View Item 
    •   OAKTrust Home
    • Colleges and Schools
    • Office of Graduate and Professional Studies
    • Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Records of Study (2002– )
    • View Item
    •   OAKTrust Home
    • Colleges and Schools
    • Office of Graduate and Professional Studies
    • Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Records of Study (2002– )
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Agricultural Livelihoods and Climate Change: Employing the Livelihood Vulnerability Index in Bluefields, Jamaica

    Thumbnail
    View/ Open
    FATH-THESIS-2014.pdf (842.2Kb)
    Date
    2014-08-20
    Author
    Fath, Kevin
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine agricultural livelihood vulnerability to climate change in Bluefields, Westmoreland, Jamaica based on the Livelihoods Vulnerability Index (LVI). Additionally, this study sought to examine relationships between selected characteristics of adopter innovativeness and farmer vulnerability level. Random sampling was used to select participants (N=52). Personal interviews were conducted with farmers using an instrument consisting of LVI components representing livelihood strategies, natural and physical assets, socio-demographic profile, social networks, water issues, food issues, and natural disasters and climate variability. The instrument also contained questions related to selected characteristics of adopter innovativeness: years of farming experience, relative income, farm size, access to credit, contact with extension services, distance to market, and head of household age. LVI data were aggregated using an indexing approach to create scores for comparison across vulnerability components. The study showed farmers in Bluefields have the greatest amount of vulnerability in the area of social networks and water issues. Low numbers of farmers owned their land, had contact with extension services, or used irrigation. Most farmers reported having problems with access to seeds and planting material, depended on their farms for food, and experienced frequent crop failure. Only one adopter innovativeness characteristic was significantly correlated to farmer vulnerability scores. A moderate negative association was observed between perceived relative income and farmer vulnerability. Farmers in Bluefields are vulnerable to climate change. Development organizations and local change agents should target the areas of greatest vulnerability illuminated by this study. Vulnerability and its contributing factors (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) should be reassessed with the LVI and other methods to monitor changes in Bluefields over time.
    URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/153818
    Subject
    agriculture
    climate change
    vulnerability
    adaptation
    Jamaica
    innovativeness
    index
    livelihoods
    Collections
    • Electronic Theses, Dissertations, and Records of Study (2002– )
    Citation
    Fath, Kevin (2014). Agricultural Livelihoods and Climate Change: Employing the Livelihood Vulnerability Index in Bluefields, Jamaica. Master's thesis, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /153818.

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2016  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV
     

     

    Advanced Search

    Browse

    All of OAKTrustCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentType

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics
    Help and Documentation

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2016  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV