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Browsing Publications and Documents by Subject "Caribbean"

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    Current Trends in Agricultural Information Services for Farmers in Trinidad and Tobago/Caribbean
    (2010) Renwick, Shamin
    At present, farmers in the Caribbean are at the dictates and vagaries of the various trade agreements and government policies. Limited by colonisation and geographic location, in order to survive from an economic standpoint, trade agreements are being signed by Caribbean countries with surrounding and relevant countries/trade blocks which may work against the best interest of farmers, especially those who produce for export markets. Government resources are being committed to politically expedient policies and procedures which are often not holistic and do not take into full consideration farmer’s livelihoods, food security issues and the protection of the environment. In addition, the implications of climate change, reduced water availability, production of genetically-modified crops, and the mitigation of the effects of years of “green revolution” practices on agricultural production are some of the relatively new issues to be addressed. The information needs of the small farmers in this changing scenario, beyond that of merely traditional production and marketing information, should be recognised and addressed. To a large extent, authoritative, appropriate, factual information in a format and at a level that enables them to make wise pre-production, production and marketing decisions is not being made accessible to farmers. This paper discusses the sources of information for the Caribbean farmer including the traditional and the relatively new sources as well as those using ICTs. An overview of the current information providers, social networking efforts as well as barriers and constraints in the utilisation of agricultural information by farmers is provided
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    Health Risk Behaviours Among Adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean: a Review
    (2009) Maharaj, Rohan G.; Nunes, Paula; Renwick, Shamin
    Background: The aim of this paper was to review and summarize research on prevalence of health risk behaviours, their outcomes as well as risk and protective factors among adolescents in the English-speaking Caribbean. Methods: Searching of online databases and the World Wide Web as well as hand searching of the West Indian Medical Journal were conducted. Papers on research done on adolescents aged 10 . 19 years old and published during the period 1980 . 2005 were included. Results: Ninety-five relevant papers were located. Five papers were published in the 1980s, 47 in the 1990s, and from 2000.2005, 43 papers. Health risk behaviours and outcomes were divided into seven themes. Prevalence data obtained for these, included lifetime prevalence of substance use: cigarettes-24% and marijuana-17%; high risk sexual behaviour: initiation of sexual activity . 10 years old-19% and those having more than six partners-19%; teenage pregnancy: teens account for 15.20% of all pregnancies and one-fifth of these teens were in their second pregnancy; Sexually-Transmitted Infections (STIs): population prevalence of gonorrhoea and/or chlamydia in 18.21 year-olds was 26%; mental health: severe depression in the adolescent age group was 9%, and attempted suicide-12%; violence and juvenile delinquency: carrying a weapon to school in the last 30 days-10% and almost always wanting to kill or injure someone-5%; eating disorders and obesity: overweight-11%, and obesity-7%. Many of the risk behaviours in adolescents were shown to be related to the adolescent's family of origin, home environment and parent-child relationships. Also, the protective effects of family and school connectedness as well as increased religiosity noted in studies from the United States were also applicable in the Caribbean. Conclusion: There is a substantial body of literature on Caribbean adolescents documenting prevalence and correlates of health risk behaviours. Future research should emphasize the designing and testing of interventions to alleviate this burden.
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    Intra-Regional Transport for Agricultural Commodities: a regional public good
    (2012-03-30) Renwick, Shamin; Stewart, Robert; Howai, Niko
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    What Caribbean Librarians Want from Caribbean Publishers
    (2002) Renwick, Shamin
    In this article, the Caribbean library market is defined as the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL). The market includes academic, school, special, national and public libraries serving a linguistically (Dutch, English, French and Spanish) and culturally diverse population of over 40 million people. Each library has a unique profile based on differing levels of funding, information technology/Internet access, professional personnel, and collection development and purchasing distinctions. Common to all the libraries is the difficulty in selecting and purchasing Caribbean-focused materials authored or published by Caribbean people. In order to overcome this difficulty, Caribbean librarians request that publishers provide reviews, synopses, and bibliographies of Caribbean-related materials, publish works that will fill designated gaps in a collection, and stimulate writing on Caribbean biographies and achievements. In a broader sense, Caribbean librarians request that publishers develop better editorial and bibliographic standards, promote legal deposit activity, create awareness of monetary devaluations, customs, and foreign exchange issues, offer marketing and promotional support for individual libraries, and provide prompt and efficient customer service to all Caribbean libraries. Publishers and Caribbean librarians seek to work together to create a mutually beneficial relationship and ultimately better serve the large population of library patrons.