Climate risk perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in The Gambia

Abstract Adaptation efforts will be ineffective unless farmers' perspectives of climate change are understood. The objectives are to examine farmers' perceptions of climate risk, identify major livelihood adaptation measures utilized by farmers, examine the variables that impact farmers' decision to adopt, and the factors that influence adaptation strategies utilized. Data were collected from 420 farmers in 12 districts of rural Gambia. The findings revealed that most of the farmers perceived an increase in drought, flood, and high temperature. Low crop yield, decline in crop production, and shortage of water are the major impacts of climate change perceived by farmers, resulting in increased vulnerability. The empirical result of the binary logistic model showed that land tenure, access to government support, access to marketing, witness to an expected weather event, and climate change perception influenced farmers' choice to implement climate risk adaptation measures. The findings indicate that female farmers are less likely to adopt climate risk adaptation measures. However, the multivariate probit model revealed that age, education, availability of extension services, membership of farm groups, and perception of climate change are the main determinants of strategies implemented at the farm level. Off-farm strategies such as petty business are mainly influenced by being female, middle age, and primary education. Government, stakeholders, and donor agencies should explore gender-disaggregated initiatives.