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

Climate risk perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in The Gambia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Climate risk perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in The Gambia Fatima Lambarraa-Lehnhardt, Sheriff Ceesay, Mohamed Ben Omar Ndiaye, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Discover Sustainability → Version 1 posted 20 You are reading this latest preprint version 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. Climate risk Adaptation Binary logistic Multivariate probit Perception Farm adaptation Off-farm adaptation The Gambia Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Discover Sustainability → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 16 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 15 Sep, 2024 Reviews received at journal 13 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 31 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Jun, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Jun, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Jun, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 21 Jun, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Jun, 2024 First submitted to journal 05 Jun, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4534788","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":320708375,"identity":"7e4b30d4-9221-458e-999f-095e82d93195","order_by":0,"name":"Fatima Lambarraa-Lehnhardt","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCElEQVRIie2PMUvDQBSAnxSS5cGtL6S0f+FKIEsK/SsWh1tScOwgGhCc1K4d+ie6O7x6kC6lXTsGAk4dCoIgiPgiOiicWR3uW95x8N33DsDj+YeEBQDL7AJBILMDCuCEp3Jwgdz5VPBboah5ZNOiwA9Fc5sS7laP+wtAFd+V1etDdpnsbMUMWc+p4BnYvASMFlszuH0ylHKpRTGJSxlBowSAep+nhGwpXRXaHsGOC1dF1aK8A45Eid5ESa7Do1TslVMhqUxupEJ5GjcVHWCzmD11/oVqbSf3hCSVuMsmmm/wnFmbgXuxcf2cvwx7ai6LHThTarZeVjzN+q7KF/T7QrcIHo/H4/mTDy+4V94jeTyaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fatima","middleName":"","lastName":"Lambarraa-Lehnhardt","suffix":""},{"id":320708376,"identity":"69fbf043-2751-43f2-8a3d-a52ddd580460","order_by":1,"name":"Sheriff Ceesay","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sheriff","middleName":"","lastName":"Ceesay","suffix":""},{"id":320708377,"identity":"ce772a1a-d40a-4d77-ab38-638165e606dc","order_by":2,"name":"Mohamed Ben Omar Ndiaye","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Cheikh Anta Diop University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohamed","middleName":"Ben Omar","lastName":"Ndiaye","suffix":""},{"id":320708378,"identity":"817d794a-1263-4f0a-a1ad-3985d98a5adb","order_by":3,"name":"Diatou Thiaw","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Cheikh Anta Diop University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Diatou","middleName":"","lastName":"Thiaw","suffix":""},{"id":320708379,"identity":"d85a5aa8-3117-4d4c-8b7c-97adfbe1a012","order_by":4,"name":"Mamma Sawaneh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of the Gambia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mamma","middleName":"","lastName":"Sawaneh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-05 14:25:58","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00616-5","type":"published","date":"2024-12-20T15:57:24+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":72201696,"identity":"e6e5591e-2882-4eb5-91c5-10f20c6d373a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-23 16:09:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":711705,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ClimateriskperceptionandadaptationstrategiesofsmallholderfarmersinTheGambia.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4534788/v1_covered_a12dcdcf-af45-4494-962e-2104d4c96569.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Climate risk perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in The Gambia","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-sustainability","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"disu","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Sustainability](https://www.springer.com/43621)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Discover Sustainability","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Climate risk, Adaptation, Binary logistic, Multivariate probit, Perception, Farm adaptation, Off-farm adaptation, The Gambia","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAdaptation 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.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Climate risk perception and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in The Gambia","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-03 08:12:43","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4534788/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-09-16T09:20:19+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-09-15T04:29:34+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-09-13T22:06:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"6491482167932693207709111988441471384","date":"2024-09-13T06:34:40+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"314707440074757949685328780972356637216","date":"2024-09-09T09:34:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"48326470992706293460344046534577425568","date":"2024-09-09T06:54:12+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"198349210035714429757199896583662381470","date":"2024-08-15T07:14:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"136280882259067676071272448216832607369","date":"2024-08-13T20:01:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"56462121502031437721552068943852094048","date":"2024-08-07T15:55:22+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"337456001663191120402209427914706807432","date":"2024-08-06T14:36:54+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-07-31T21:20:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"61418626405055294747796063418296435379","date":"2024-07-22T12:33:09+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"205176794175303187465610512686699048438","date":"2024-07-22T06:31:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"193386356169240982130349928657861272061","date":"2024-07-20T09:31:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"166554252021371503060788943416548589710","date":"2024-06-25T05:45:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"270710336014100385720126307074243075756","date":"2024-06-25T05:45:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-06-25T05:27:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-06-21T11:58:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-06-18T04:53:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Discover Sustainability","date":"2024-06-05T14:24:29+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-sustainability","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"disu","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Sustainability](https://www.springer.com/43621)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Discover Sustainability","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"06418fb5-9755-4406-8cfa-0bc672e4674d","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 3rd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-12-23T16:01:22+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4534788","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00616-5","journal":{"identity":"discover-sustainability","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Discover Sustainability"},"publishedOn":"2024-12-20 15:57:24","publishedOnDateReadable":"December 20th, 2024"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-03 08:12:43","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s43621-024-00616-5","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00616-5","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4534788","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4534788","identity":"rs-4534788","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}