Livestock Farmer’s Perceptions of How Changes in Climate Variabilities Are Impacting The Production Systems in The Gambia

Abstract

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in six administrative regions of The Gambia, in order to assess livestock owners' perceptions on climate variabilities changes and their impact on livestock rearing in The Gambia. A total of 440 study participants were interviewed and six focal group discussions were undertaken. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-squares analysis and Binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Among them 351 (80%) were males, while 89 (20%) were females. This result reveals that, middle-aged farmers from 40-49 years old had (P value =0.035), livestock owners in NBR (P value=0.006), CRR-S (P=0.038), and CRR-N (P=0.001) were the main factors significantly influencing livestock owner’s perception on rainfall. As for temperature, livestock owners residing in WCR (P <0.001), NBR (P=0.006), CRR-S (P <0.038), CRR-N (P <0.001) and Herdsmen (P <0.003) and crop farmers (P <0.004) were highly associated with knowledge on changes in temperatures The research also revealed farmers were faced with low milk production and poor-quantity meat as they attributed it as the cause of climate change. Finally, the research has shown that, livestock owners are very much aware of climate change and the consequences it has on their livelihood.