Empowering Resilience: Integrating Climate-Smart Agriculture Communication and Education for Sustainable Farming in The Gambia's Central River Region

Abstract

Climate change has posed a significant threat to agricultural sustainability, especially in vulnerable regions like the Central River Region of The Gambia. Smallholder farmers in this area heavily rely on agriculture for their sustenance, still encountering challenges mainly due to erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, and degraded soils. Despite the important roles of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in promoting sustainable agriculture and enhancing resilience, its adoption rate remains low due to insufficient access to CSA communication and education. This study explores the perception and effectiveness of different CSA communication channels, the socioeconomic factors hindering smallholder farmers' access to CSA information, the impact of CSA communication and education in building smallholder farmers' resilience, and how CSA communication and education initiatives differently impact men and women's adoption of CSAPs in the CRR. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research gathered data through surveys (n=273), focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Chi-square tests were done to determine the association between socioeconomic factors and perception of CSA. Findings revealed that only 47% of respondents know about CSA. The regression analysis indicates that access to extension service (coeff. 0.34, p<0.001) and educational level (coeff. 0.265, p < 0.05) are important predictors of access to CSA information. Additionally, gender differences are evident, with men being more often in decision-making (coeff. 0.48, p<0.01). The research also assessed the effectiveness of CSA communication channels, indicating that radios were the widely used channel (48.4%), followed by television (47.7%). However, digital platforms remain underutilized, despite their important role in CSA information dissemination. The study recommended extending extension services as well as incorporating CSA policies into national policies and developing local knowledge-sharing platforms for communities. Similarly, the study recommended increased CSA education together with better communication methods that will give farmers the power to maintain food security while making their farms more resilient to climate changes in The Gambia’s Central River Region.