ADAPT Jamaica: Enhancing climate change resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Central Jamaica

The ADAPT Jamaica project targets six parishes in Central Jamaica to protect the livelihoods of approximately 503,372 persons. It addresses vulnerabilities to drought, hurricanes, and flooding through a combination of technical training via Farmer Field Schools, the installation of rainwater harvesting and irrigation systems, and the creation of a data-driven agricultural services portal. The project also focuses on reducing food loss (estimated at 30-40%) and improving financial inclusion for smallholders through a partnership with the Development Bank of Jamaica to create customized credit products and risk-management tools.

• The project targets six parishes in Central Jamaica—St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, and St. Ann—which account for approximately 70% of the country's domestic food production.
• Agricultural productivity in Jamaica is severely impacted by climate extremes; for example, the most severe drought in forty years in 2014 caused annual agricultural production to drop by 30%.
• Food loss and waste in Jamaica is estimated at 30–40 percent, with leafy vegetables and soft fruits being particularly affected due to poor harvesting, transportation, and a lack of temperature-controlled storage.
• Climate projections indicate a drying trend for Jamaica, with the country potentially being up to 21% drier by the end of the century under the most severe Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios.
• Temperature trends show a warming pattern, with mean temperatures increasing at a rate of 0.16°C per decade from 1900 to 2019, and minimum temperatures increasing faster at approximately 0.27°C per decade.
• Smallholder farmers face significant financial barriers to adopting climate-resilient technologies, including a lack of collateral, high interest rates, and loan repayment cycles that do not align with crop production cycles.
• Gender disparities exist in land ownership and asset access; only 11% of female farmers own the land they cultivate, and the average plot size for women (1.4 hectares) is significantly smaller than for men (2.6 hectares).
• The project will implement a Data-driven Agricultural Services (DDAS) Information Knowledge Portal at RADA to provide location-specific agro-hydrometeorological information, including drought indices and pest warnings.
• The project aims to benefit 503,372 direct beneficiaries (including 122,223 small farmers) and an additional 150,000 indirect market system actors.
• The total indicative project cost is USD 20,000,000, with USD 15,000,000 requested as a grant from the Green Climate Fund and USD 5,000,000 in co-financing from the Government of Jamaica.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2023). ADAPT Jamaica: Enhancing climate change resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Central Jamaica. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/clean-gcf-cn-fao-jam-adapt-jamaica-17-jan-2023.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. ADAPT Jamaica: Enhancing climate change resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Central Jamaica. 2023. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/clean-gcf-cn-fao-jam-adapt-jamaica-17-jan-2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=ADAPT Jamaica: Enhancing climate change resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Central Jamaica |date=17 January 2023 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/clean-gcf-cn-fao-jam-adapt-jamaica-17-jan-2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2023adapt, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{ADAPT Jamaica: Enhancing climate change resilience of vulnerable smallholders in Central Jamaica}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2023}, month = jan, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/clean-gcf-cn-fao-jam-adapt-jamaica-17-jan-2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }