Abstract:
Rice production plays a critical role in food security of farmers in Central
River Region (CRR), The Gambia. Over the past years, the region has
experienced a reduction in yield due to perceived climate change negative
impacts but limited studies were done in the area on how climate change affect
rice production. This study assesses the implications of farmers‘ perceptions,
local knowledge and climate change on rice production in the CRR. Two data
collection methods namely quantitative and qualitative were used in this study.
The quantitative data was obtained from a survey of 438 respondents while the
qualitative data was collected from 58 focus group discussions with rice
farming communities in all 11 districts of the region. In addition, 13 key
informant interviews from relevant institutions were done. The results showed
that rice farmers experienced changes in terms of inconsistent rainfall pattern,
drought, high temperature, and floods which impacted negatively resulting in
low yields, youth migration, food insecurity, and livestock death. Local
knowledge was found to be useful in predicting climate and weather
conditions and season performance by farmers. Adaptation measures; crop
diversification, youth migration; early maturing varieties, livestock sale and
remittance were used to address climate change impacts The study also found
the inability of state institutions to effectively support the adaptive capacities
of farmers, thus further increase rice farmers vulnerability. The study
concludes that rice farmers acknowledged the existence and impacts of climate
change, and therefore recommends availability of climate change ready- rice‖
to farmers to address climate change impact in the Central River Region.
