Caribbean agriculture looks to cope with climate change

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, IPS – Climate change represents a clear and growing threat to food security in the Caribbean with differing rainfall patterns, water scarcity, heat stress and increased climatic variability making it difficult for farmers to meet demand for crops and livestock.

Nearly all of the countries in the Caribbean have been experiencing prolonged drought, posing significant challenges to food production in one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change.

“Last year the drought was prolonged over a period of about five months; it affected 18,000 farmers and cost the agricultural sector about J$1 billion (US$8.3 million). So climate change through drought has really been a challenge,” Norman Grant, President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), told IPS.

Read more at: Inter Press Service