Lowland rice production is highly vulnerable to extreme temperature as a result of climate change. The study analyses farmer’s perception about climate change, management practice and their on-farm adoption strategies at the rice fields of Sapu and Kuntaur study location. The selected villages were the main rice production area, where rice is a monoculture crop. Focus group discussion was held with twenty rice growing farmers at Sapuand Kuntaur, and these were divided into five groups. Personal interview and key informant involves the two village head, two youth development chairpersons (VDC) and the extension worker overseeing both villages. This was done to gain in-depth knowledge on the subject matter. The analysis results indicated that more than 50% of the rice growing farmers were female and do not undergo formal education. More than 70% of them having perceived knowledge on the causes of climate change, inorganic fertilizer use, transplanting of rice seedlings, use of improved rice varieties, and on-farm coping strategies such as changing of cropping calendar and the use of pesticides to cope with current and future climate situation.
Climate change and increased climate variability are currently seen as major threats to agricultural production particularly on the side of rice farmers in Central River Region of the Gambia, coming on top of the long-lasting challenges of land degradation, poor drainage conditions in rice fields and inappropriate fertilizer applications. Rice production is part of the customs and traditions of the Central River Region South and North of the Gambia as it provides food, income and employment among small scale farmers [
The impacts of climate change will be felt more on Africa continent due to factors such as high level of climate variability, high dependence on natural resources, poor income status and poor infrastructural development to adjust to the devastating effects of climate change [
Small scale farming in Africa will be greatly affected by climate change due to low adaptation strategy [
The field experiment was conducted in the Central River Region (CRR) on latitude 13.56 and longitude −15.93. The study sites have unimodal rainfall distribution with the peak of the rain in August. Based on studies and local experiences have indicated that rain begins 15 days in the study area before the rest of the country receives rains. Rainfall varies from 900 - 700 mm and 600 mm to 500 mm respectively, the vegetation is mainly trees, shrubs and seasonal grasses. The main crops grown in the area are rice, vegetables, millet, groundnut, and maize. The region is purposefully selected because it is the food basket of the Gambia [
The Gambia have a population of less than 1.7 million with about 80% of the inhabitants lived in urban areas [
A reconnaissance visit was made to the selected two villages of Sapu and Kuntaur for the validity of the study. A pretesting of fifteen rice farmers was carried out to ascertain the quality of the questionnaire. The validation of the questionnaire was done also with a focus group discussion held with farmers [
The respondents for the survey comprised of a population of 30 active rice farmers from each study site, comprising of 60 respondents from two study sites. Rice farmers from each study location were randomly selected using simple random sampling and this comprised of more than 50% of the sampled population. The selection process was also aided by village extension worker and the village head. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered on the theme: socio-demographic information, perception of climate change, perception onchemical fertilizer use, perception on varieties, transplanting dates and adaptation measure to boost their rice production. The questionnaires were read out to farmers in their own dialects for those who cannot read and write, whilst others directly filled the questionnaire, since they have been to school.
Statistical packages of SPSS software version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics such as percentages and sums were used to describe farmers’ socio-demographic data, perceptions of climate change, selected rice varieties, chemical fertilizer application, transplanting of rice seedling and their on-farm adaptation measures to climate change.
Majority of the respondents at Sapu and Kuntaur location were female (80%), rice production in the Gambia were female dominated, men regards it as a female job and as a results only few males are involved in the cultivation activity [
Frequency | Percentage (%) | |
---|---|---|
Sex | ||
Female | 48 | 80 |
Male | 12 | 20 |
Civil status | ||
Single | 9 | 15 |
Married | 51 | 85 |
Religion | ||
Islam | 46 | 76 |
Christian | 14 | 23 |
Education level | ||
No education | 41 | 68 |
Primary education | 12 | 20 |
Secondary education | 8 | 13 |
As shown in
The study, as it was shown in
Agree | % | Disagree | % | Not sure | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate change would reduce forest trees | 50 | 77 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 13 |
Climate change would increase temperature | 51 | 85 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
Climate change will increase rice yield | 21 | 25 | 29 | 35 | 10 | 40 |
Pest and diseases would be favoured by climate change | 18 | 20 | 15 | 50 | 27 | 30 |
Water supply from the river would be reduced by climate change | 34 | 56 | 20 | 33 | 6 | 11 |
Agree | % | Disagree | % | Not sure | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
More inorganic fertilizer more yields | 54 | 96 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Inorganic fertilizers increased pest and disease infestation on yield | 21 | 35 | 15 | 25 | 24 | 40 |
Inorganic fertilizer is better and cheaper than organic fertilizer | 20 | 33 | 35 | 58 | 5 | 8 |
effective rice production without applying inorganic fertilizer, according to focus group discussion and personal interviews held with them. Regarding the type of fertilizer many prefers NPK whilst other prefer urea as a choice of fertilizer. The opinion as whether inorganic fertilizer increased pest and disease occurrence, (35%) agreed, (25%) did not agree and (40%) were not sure of the opinion. Many of them (58%) disagreed to the motion that inorganic fertilizers are cheaper and better than organic fertilizer, they have the perception that the long term usage of inorganic fertilizer can destroy their soil. Most of them used it and they claimed that inorganic fertilizer gives quick response to rice crop.
Most of the respondents (80%) have the belief that transplanting rice seedlings would give high yield as indicated in
Based on the local experiences of the respondents on rice varieties as mentioned in
Agree | % | Disagree | % | Not sure | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Transplanting of rice gives high yields | 48 | 80 | 9 | 15 | 3 | 5 |
Transplanting at shorter distance gives high yields | 10 | 16 | 35 | 58 | 15 | 26 |
Transplanting of tall seedlings gives high yields | 7 | 11 | 43 | 71 | 10 | 18 |
Transplanting during hot months increases pest and diseases damage. | 40 | 66 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 29 |
Agree | % | Disagree | % | Not sure | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional rice varieties yield more than improved varieties | 21 | 35 | 35 | 58 | 4 | 7 |
Traditional varieties withstand unfavourable conditions than improved varieties | 14 | 23 | 28 | 46 | 18 | 31 |
Traditional rice varieties are more tastier than improved varieties | 17 | 28 | 31 | 51 | 12 | 21 |
Traditional varieties mature late than improve varieties | 45 | 75 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
Traditional varieties are exposed to lodging than the improved varieties | 49 | 81 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 11 |
and (31%) were not sure whether it is the traditional. Their reason was that traditional varieties were in existence for a long period and they exhibit characters to withstand unfavourable climate Most of the respondents (51%) were not in agreement that traditional varieties are tastier than the improved rice variety. “due to nice tasty nature of the traditional rice variety, it is highly used as porridge in many homes and the most preferred during ceremonies”, as quoted from focus group discussion. Almost (75%) of the sampled rice farmers agreed that improved rice varieties are early maturing as compared to traditional varieties. About (81%) of the respondents agree that traditional rice varieties are highly susceptible to lodging or falling down due to extreme events, due to their long height. Lodging is one of the problems farmers encounter in irrigated lowland rice production in the Gambia, most of grain yields are lost when lodging occurs in rice fields.
About (85%) of rice farmers have adopted changing their farming calendar as their main on-farm adaptation strategy. Based on their local experience, most of them know when to embark on cultivation, around (6%) still maintain their usual time of cultivation whilst (9%) of them were not sure if change of farming calendar could really help them boost their yields. Most of them (78%) have stopped cultivating traditional varieties because it is late maturing and prefer to use improved varieties that are early maturing, about (16%) of them still used their traditional varieties as an on-farm adoption measures, and do not want to switch to other rice varieties whilst (6%) of the respondents were not sure in both opinions. Few of them (9%) who can afford inorganic fertilizer, prefers using it as an adaptation measures to climate change, they still have the beliefs that inorganic fertilizer can greatly contribute to high yields regardless of weather condition, whilst (51%) did not agreed the use inorganic fertilizer as an on-farm adoption strategy and (6%) of them were not sure in both cases. Some of them (43%) agreed using pesticides as an adoption measure to control pests and diseases on their rice fields, and many have the understanding that when rice fields are protected from pest and disease attack, grain yields would be improved, whilst about (40%) did not agreed to the concept and (17%) of them were not sure in both cases, see
The management practices like the determination of optimum transplanting dates, selection of varieties and the application of inorganic fertilizers were the on-farm adoption strategies to combat climate change. Farmers already knew about extreme temperatures and variability in rainfall which is in agreement with meteorological records with exception of their perceived reduction of rainfall. This analysis results were in agreement with the findings of Cooper et al. [
Agree | % | Disagree | % | Not sure | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Changing of farming calendar | 51 | 85 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 9 |
Use of improved rice varieties | 47 | 78 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 6 |
Use of inorganic fertilizers | 5 | 9 | 51 | 85 | 4 | 6 |
Use of pesticides | 26 | 43 | 24 | 40 | 10 | 17 |
The findings of this research are in agreement with the findings of current scientific research, which say farmers are aware of climate change and they are using their own initiatives to overcome the impacts at the farm level. Farmers’ productivity would be enhanced by the use of inorganic fertilizers, change of transplanting dates and varieties. Most of the farm adoption strategies included the change of crop calendar, use of inorganic fertilizer, use of improved rice varieties to adapt to climate variability. The education or training of farmers on weather or climate related area is crucial for effective adaptation strategy to enable decision making in agricultural production.
Special thanks to West African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adapted land use (WASCAL) for sponsoring the entire doctoral program. Similar appreciation goes to Prince Albert 2 Foundation for young researcher scholarship in collaboration with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for financing my research work.
The authors of this article declare that there is not competing interest, there is no duplication of this article and all citations were duly acknowledged.
Bojang, F., Traore, S., Togola, A. and Diallo, Y. (2020) Farmers Perceptions about Climate Change, Management Practice and Their On-Farm Adoption Strategies at Rice Fields in Sapu and Kuntaur of the Gambia, West Africa. American Journal of Climate Change, 9, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2020.91001