Wild Food Harvest, Food Security, and Biodiversity Conservation in Jamaica: A Case Study of the Millbank Farming Region

Abstract

Harvesting wild food is an important coping strategy to deal with food insecurity in farming households across the Caribbean. The practice is tightly connected to the region's unique agrarian history, food heritage, traditional cuisine, and local knowledge of wild or semidomesticated plants. In Jamaica, small-scale farmers are the chief stewards of agrobiodiversity, and their food security and well-being are often dependent on wild food harvest. Yet, there is a paucity of empirical research on the relationship between wild food use, food security, and biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we use the knowledge and lived experience of rural farmers in a remote community (Millbank) at the edge of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (BJMNP) to explore the relationship between wild food harvest and food insecurity within the context of protected area management. Specifically, we seek to (1) characterize different patterns of wild food harvest; (2) examine the relationship between food insecurity and wild food harvest, and (3) explore the implications of forest conservation measures for wild food harvest. Detailed interviews were conducted with 43 farmers to capture data on food insecurity, wild food collection, livelihood satisfaction, household characteristics, farming activities, livelihood strategies, and forest resource interaction. The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) was used to characterize food insecurity, while participatory techniques were used to develop indicators to assess the well-being of farmers. The results show strong evidence of a relationship between wild food harvest and food insecurity (p < 0.001). Overall, the findings support the importance of wild foods to the well-being of rural households and provide empirical evidence for its inclusion in food security, poverty, and biodiversity conservation policies.

Finding food in the hunger season: A mixed methods approach to understanding wild plant foods in relation to food security and dietary diversity in southeastern Madagascar

“…Furthermore, it is still common to see a family walking home from a long day in their fields carrying wild greens along with small fish and crustaceans gleaned from the rice paddies, a practice which has also been documented among other rice cultures (e.g., Cruz-Garcia and Price, 2011;Ray and Chakraborty, 2021). Therefore, as we assess consumption of WPFs in Madagascar as an indication of food insecurity, we also recognize the role of WPFs in providing important micronutrients (Ray and Chakraborty, 2021;Cantwell-Jones et al, 2022), as well as its ties to ancestral food pathways (Campbell et al, 2021), and cultural food identity (Tucker et al, 2010;Ghosh-Jerath et al, 2021).…”

Biodiversity Knowledge and Conservation Awareness in a Bufferzone Community: An Assessment of Public Engagement Strategies and Tools

“…It is predominantly a farming community where agricultural production is the main economic activity (Garraway et al 2017). Additionally, the community has a long history of high dependence on the forest for food resources (Campbell et al 2021).…”

“…Additionally, several research activities have been undertaken by local and international universities which resulted in countless interactions with residents and in some cases, many years of established research partnerships (Davis-Morrison and Barker 1997; Garraway et al 2017; Campbell et al 2021). The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, is one such local institution where long term partnerships have been established by way of research and repeated engagement of community members in field excursions and student interactions.…”

“…Moreover, it has served as a gateway for various studies into the National Park. Many of the past studies have focused on issues relating to natural resource management and biodiversity that have generated data on land-use and farming practices, ecology and conservation of plant and animal species (Davis-Morrison and Barker 1997;Otuokon and Chai 2009;Gar-raway et al 2017;Campbell et al 2021). It has been generally assumed that these various activities have had significant impact on the knowledge and awareness of the environment and in particularly biodiversity, and it has been held up as a model for community conservation (Garraway et al 2017).…”

Black Geographies and Black Ecologies as Insurgent Ecocriticism

“…As the imperatives of such spaces grows amid contemporary ecological crisis and retreat of the state, Opperman sees the historic Black plots as off ering lessons for Black ecological ethics and resilience. Similarly, Roane (2018) argues that the reconstitution of Black plots is key to recreating and maintaining Black commons and providing socio-ecological respite from contemporary racial capitalist enclosures that cause food insecurity and general precarity (Campbell et al 2021).…”