The goal of this study was to learn about livestock owners' thoughts on climate change and how these changes affect their cattle husbandry. The findings of this study show that recent perceived climatic variability has had a significant impact on the environment. According to metrological evidence from NAPA 2007 and Cham et al. 2018, precipitation has decreased, the duration of the rainy season has decreased, minimum temperatures have decreased, maximum temperatures have increased, and the frequency of severe weather events such as drought and dust has increased in The Gambia over the last 60 years. This study reports that cattle farmers in The Gambia are well aware of changes in climate variabilities (Figure 2). Farmers' views of climate change and variability are consistent with weather data evidence and observations from other authors' studies in Burkina (Sanfo et al. 2015; Sanou et al. 2018), Ghana (Fagariba et al. 2018; Dakureh 2020), Ethiopia (Getachew et al. 2014), Benin (Idrissou et al. 2020), Zimbabwe (Mavhura et al. 2021) and even in The Gambia by (Bagagnan et al. 2019) where farmers in the CRR recorded a rise in the average annual temperature, severe weather events such as frequency in drought and flood, and a decrease in the annual average precipitation. Farmers' perceptions of drought, rainfall, and temperature in The Gambia were questioned, and some respondents religiously linked these variables to human actions, as shown in Figure 4. According to some livestock owners in one FGD, “Allah (God) is angry because of our bad deeds and actions that is why we are experience change in climate”. They went on to say that there are many atrocities going on now in our society and this is against the teachings of the holy scriptures. Ashraf & Routray 2014 and Iqbal et al. 2018, found similar results in which some components were linked to religious beliefs. Religious belief is considered an essential factor in recognizing and reacting to natural hazards, according to Cooper et al. 2008. Others claim that natural disasters have historically been viewed as "acts of God" or exoteric powers against which mankind had no protection, and that religion and culture can affect interpretation more than experience in purely religious cultures (Fara 2001). This finding is similar with that of Lumborg et al. 2021, who reported that farmers argue that shrinking and degradation of grazing lands, as expressed by communities and animal health workers, is a major concern for Hamer pastoralists in terms of drought. Chi-square analysis test (Table 4) shows that; region of residence (x2=33.33, df=5 & p value= <0.001), age (x2=19.586, df=5 & p value= 0.001), occupation (x2=34.546, df=4 & p value= <0.001) and qualification (x2=20.086, df=4 & p value= <0.001) were highly significant in determining livestock owners perception of changes in rainfall in their communities. As for their perception on changes in temperature, the region of residence of the livestock owner (x2=103.641, df=5 & p value= <0.001), age (x2=33.939, df=5 & p value= <0.001), occupation (x2=31.324, df=4 & p value= <0.001) and qualification (x2=115.594, df=4 & p value= <0.001). showed statistical association with livestock owner’s perception of temperature and finally, only gender (x2=8.349, df=1 & p value= 0.00) and age (x2=11.227, df=5 & p value= 0.047) were again the only demographic variables that had a statistical significance with livestock owner’s perception of the occurrence of drought in their communities. The results of binomial logistic regression show that age and residence of livestock owners were the main factors influencing livestock farmers' perceptions of rainfall, while region of residence and main occupation of livestock owners were the main factors influencing livestock farmer' perceptions of temperature. Age, level of qualification, and occupation were the main factors influencing the occurrence of drought. This finding is consistent with previous findings that socio-demographic characteristics affect farmers' perceptions of the causes and impact of climate variabilities (Kapoury et al. 2016; Olayemi 2012; Sahu and Mishra 2013; Mavhura et al. 2021). However, this result differs from that of Odewumi et al. (2013), who found out that there was no effect of any of the demography variables on the perception of farmers towards Climate change and climate variabilities. This result further suggests that age is a strong indicator of farmers' perceptions of changes in rain fall pattern, occurrence of drought, and changes in temperature in The Gambia. Indeed, older farmers have been subjected to changes in climate variabilities more than younger farmers and this result is consistent with the findings of (Kapoury et al. 2016; Varadan et al. 2014), but the findings contradict that of Sahu and Mishra (2013). Furthermore, the region of residence of farmers is also a good predictor associated with the farmers’ perception of the occurrence and decrease of rain fall pattern, drought and temperature in The Gambia. Farmers living in NBR, LRR, CRR-N, CRR-S and URR of The Gambia better perceived climate changes more because they are more prone to the adverse effect of climate change since there are less vegetation and these areas are prone to bush burning [personal observation by researcher].
According to the cattle farmers interviewed in FGDs, climate change and variabilities has negative consequences for animals (nutrition, reproduction, health, and production), natural resources, and the cattle rearing community, which could be linked to rising aridity, which affects feed availability and quality. Given how reliant agricultural activities are on the weather, this result is in agreement with the finding of (Ayanlade et al. 2010; Mavhura et al. 2021; Lumborg et al. 2021). Farmers' reports of decreased fertility, milk production and meat as a result of Climate Change and variability on animals in this study [FGDs] and this result corroborates with that findings of several authors (Kima et al. 2015; Sanou et al. 2018; Lumborg et al. 2021). Increased morbidity and mortality in livestock are also a result of a rise in certain vector-borne diseases (Courtin et al., 2010; Sanfo et al. 2015; Idrissou et al. 2020). Ninety-one percent of the participants in FGDs mentioned that they are experiencing more cases of animal disease, droughts, intrusion of salt into the river Gambia and bush fires now than they were previously. As a result, animals have had to travel long distances in search of sufficient feed and fresh water due to high aridity and salinity of The River Gambia during the dry season. According to Idrissou et al. 2020) environmental changes is influenced by factors such as human activities and climate change. Farming practices such as repeated bush fires, deforestation, slash and burn, overgrazing and the reduction of fallow duration result in the degradation of vegetation and soil, favoring the release of greenhouse gases e.g. CO2 into the atmosphere (Idrissou et al. 2020). Farmers in The Gambia viewed the social effects of Climate Change as the greatest treat on food security because of its threats on the livestock animals and this finding is in agreement with that of (Idrissou et al. 2020; Mavhura et al. 2021). Chi-square analysis test (Table 4) shows that region of residence, age and occupation were the only demographic variable showed that there is a statistically significant association with all the questions asked on the impact of climate variability on animal husbandry. This finding suggests that livestock owners in The Gambia are well aware of the profound impact of climate variables on their livelihood.