Agriculture Science Developments, 2(9) September 2013, Pages: 79-83

TI Journals

Agriculture Science Developments

ISSN
2306-7527

www.tijournals.com

Effect of Ambient Temperature and Rainfall on Rice production

in The Gambia: A case study of the Central River Region (CRR)
S. O. Eze 1, Bola Abdulhamid Afolabi 2
1

Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, Nigeria. Visiting lecturer, University of The Gambia; School of
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
2
Physics Department, Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin-Nigeria. Visiting lecturer, University of The Gambia; School of Arts and Sciences.
AR TIC LE INF O

AB STR AC T

Keywords:

Climate most often determines the amount of rainfall in a place, and rainfall including soil
condition, help to determine the performance (growth and yield) of crop plants especially cereals;
but rainfall plays a major role. This study was carried out to determine the Effects of Ambient
Temperature and Rainfall on rice Production in The Gambia, particularly the Central River
Region (CRR). Secondary data on rainfall and temperature were obtained from Gambia
Meteorological Station (GMS), while data on cereal production (Rice) was obtained from National
Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The maximum and minimum monthly temperature values
obtained from GMS was used to determine the average monthly values of the temperature used in
this study. The yearly average temperature values for the period of five years covered in this study
was obtained by calculating the mean value of temperature for each year while the average monthly
rainfall for the period of five years (2006 to 2010) obtained from GMS were also used. The mean
of monthly rainfall for the period were determined and used as the yearly rainfall value. Statistics
on annual rainfall, temperature and rice production between 2006 to 2010 was used to determine
the relationship between; temperature, rainfall pattern and cereal crops production (rice) in the
study area. The result shows that there are certain levels of precipitation which encourage good
growth and yield of rice as is shown in table 5. The observations of the researchers based on the
data, reveal that too much rainfall and too little of it retard normal growth and yield of rice. The
overall result show that climate variability resulted in Crop Yield variability. The researchers can
safely conclude that rice performs best at moderate/adequate rainfall spread throughout the growth
cycle (90-160days).

Precipitation
Yield
Growth-cycle
Agro-ecological
Rain fed
Rainfall

2013 Agric. sci. dev. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

Introduction
The Gambia is one of the smallest West African countries on the Atlantic coastline, surrounded by the Republic of Senegal on the northern,
eastern and southern sides and bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The country is less than 48km wide at its greatest width and less
than two million populations. The country has a total land area of about 11,000 square kilometers extending approximately 400 kilometers
eastwards with width varying from about 80km at the Atlantic coast to about 24 - 28km in the east. The geographical co-ordinate of The
Gambia are 13 0 28 N and 16 0 34 W.
The climate is largely semi arid with one wet season (3-4 months) followed by a seven or eight months dry season. The rainy season
commences from June and continues to October. Average monthly temperature varies between 24.60C to 28.90C.1
Based on the rainfall pattern, there are 3 major agro-ecological zones in The Gambia namely Sahelian, Sudan-Sahelian and Sudan-Guinean
zones.
Sahelian zone has a micro climate with open dry season, savanna vegetation. Rainfall is unpredictable and less than 600mm total annually
with an effective crop growing season of less than 79 days. Soils have low water retention capacity and this is a high risk area for long
duration crops. Thus early maturing, short duration and drought tolerant crops are cultivated in the zone. Cassava, sesame and cowpea are
the main produce with millet grown only occasionally.
Sudan-Sahelian lies within the 600-900mm rainfall area, has a longer growing season, 79-119 days. The upland areas are well suited for
groundnuts, cotton and sorghum. The flood plains along the Gambia River and associated lowland valley system are excellent rice growing
catchments.
While Sudan-Guinean lies within 900-1200mm rainfall. The growing season are 120-150 days and in normal seasons full crop water
requirement are met throughout the growing season. The principal crop cultivated in this agro-ecological area are early millet, groundnuts,
rice [rain fed upland and lowland, irrigated lowland mangrove and mangrove salt-tolerant] maize, vegetable, sesame and cowpea.
* Corresponding author.
Email address: ominyieze@yahoo.com, ba-afolabi@yahoo.com

S. O. Eze and Bola Abdulhamid Afolabi

80

Agricult ure Sci ence Devel opments , 2( 9) Sept e mber 2013

Literature Review
Generally Gambia agriculture has been characterized by subsistence production of food crops comprising cereals: maize, rice, millet and
sorghum; and semi- intensive cash crop production; Groundnut, cotton, sesame and horticultural crops. These are the two components that
occupy agricultural activities in the country. Farmers generally practice mixed farming, although crops account for a greater percentage of
the production.
The Gambia is classified as a least developed, low income food deficient country and is currently ranked as 155 out of 177 countries
according to UNDPs human development index for 2007.2
The countrys domestic food production caters little more than 50% of the consumption requirement. A large percentage of the population
leaves below the poverty line and suffer from food insecurity.3
Farmers tend to sell the bulk of their produce immediately on harvesting usually at give away prices and during the hungry season, they buy
back at exorbitant prices the vary produce they sold cheaply to the local merchants. This practice is not sustainable and takes cruel
advantage of the poor farmers which may even get worst with unfavorable climate change.4
Climate variability adversely impacts Crops production and imposes a major constraint on farming planning, mostly under rain-fed
conditions, across the world. Agricultural production in the Gambia is highly rainfall dependent and it is a known fact that the rainfall
distribution in the sahelian zone which Gambia belongs to has been erratic. Consequently, the situation culminate into; poor agricultural
performance, increased food insecurity and unprecedented household income loss due to the peculiar climatic conditions such as the
rainfall pattern, ambient temperature which may affects the overall crops production.
Rice, (Oryza sativa) a stable food item in the Gambian diet is the most widely cultivated cereal in the World and the most important food
crop for almost half of the World population. In West Africa, rice cultivation was introduced by the Portuguese 200-400 years ago. The
African rice O. glaberrium is thought to have originated in the central Delta of the Niger where it may have been grown since 1500BC in
West Africa.5 In the Gambia; rice growing is believed to have been started by the Jola ethnic group. Moreover, rice is the most widely
grown cereal crop in the Gambia, almost by all ethnic groups in the country. However, the highest production of rice in the Gambia is the
Central River Region. As a result of improved research by the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) new high yielding varieties
of rice have been introduced example, NERICA to boost production for food self sufficiency in the Gambia.

Purpose of the Study

Considering recent advances in climate Science, many studies are trying to produce a reliable basis for climate, and consequently
agricultural production forecasts. Therefore, this study seeks to find out the effects of climate variations on crops production (cereal-rice) in
The Gambia. Specifically the study seeks to examine the relationship between ambient temperature and rainfall pattern, determine the
effect of rainfall variability on rice production in the country.

Materials and Method

This study is analytical in nature using secondary data obtained from National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Gambia
Meteorological Station (GMS).
The study was carried out in the Central River region (CRR) in the Gambia. The CRR is inhabited and dominated by the Jola ethnic group
who are predominantly farmers who settled near swamps to grow rice and fish along river banks of the Gambia. Secondary data on rainfall
and temperature were collected from Gambia Meteorological Station, while data on cereal production (Rice) was obtained from NARI. The
maximum and minimum monthly temperature values obtained from GMS was used to determine the average monthly values of the
temperature used in this study as shown in Tables 1 a,b & c.

Yr/Mon
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

Table 1(a): Monthly Maximum Mean Temperature ( 0 C) 2006-2010

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
31.8
32.9
35.5
32.6
32.3
33.2
31.5
31.2
32.9
35.5
36.2
33.3
33.3
32.1
31.3
30.5
32.9
34.4
34.0
32.5
33.9
32.9
30.9
31.0
30.4
31.0
31.1
33.9
33.1
33.1
31.7
31.2
34.3
35.0
36.7
34.3
34.4
33.9
31.3
31.2

Sep
31.5
30.9
32.0
31.5
31.2

Oct
32.4
32.6
32.5
33.2
32.8

Nov
34.3
34.3
33.8
32.5
34.4

Dec
33.5
32.9
32.8
32.9
32.8

Effect of Ambient Temperature and Rainfall on Rice production in The Gambia: A case study of the Central River Region (CRR)

81

Agri culture Scienc e Developments , 2(9) Septe mber 2013

Yr/Mon
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

Table 1(b): Monthly Minimum Mean Temperature ( 0 C) 2006-2010

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
17.4
18.8
18.9
20.0
20.9
24.1
24.4
23.7
17.4
18.7
19.9
19.6
21.3
23.2
24.3
23.9
17.1
19.1
19.6
20.2
21.6
23.7
23.2
23.2
16.6
17.3
18.6
19.1
21.1
23.7
23.9
23.3
16.4
18.6
20.0
21.2
22.3
23.9
23.9
23.7

Table 1: Average Monthly Temp(oC) for 2006-2010

2006
2007
2008
2009
Mon/ Yr
J
24.6
25.2
25.6
23.5
F
25.9
27.1
26.8
24.2
M
27.2
23.1
26.8
24.9
A
26.3
26.5
26.4
26.5
M
26.6
27.3
27.8
27.1
J
28.7
27.7
28.3
28.4
J
28.0
27.8
27.1
27.8
A
27.5
27.2
27.1
27.3
27.2
27.0
27.6
27.3
S
O
28.1
28.1
27.8
28.4
N
27.5
27.4
27.3
26.3
D
25.6
25.7
25.4
26.3

Sep
22.9
23.0
23.2
23.7
23.4

Oct
23.8
23.5
23.0
23.6
23.7

Nov
20.6
20.5
20.8
20.0
20.8

Dec
17.6
18.4
18.0
19.8
19.9

2010
24.6
26.8
28.4
27.8
28.4
28.9
27.6
27.5
27.5
28.3
27.6
26.4

The yearly average temperature values for the period of five year covered in this study was obtained by calculating the mean value of
temperature for each year as shown in table 2.

Table 2: Average Monthly Rainfall (mm) for 2006-2010

Mon/Yr
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D

2006
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
43.3
136.4
420.7
327.5
28.5
0.0
0.0

2007
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
5.9
14.8
180.7
263.5
283.5
17.6
0.0
0.0

2008
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
82.2
419.7
477.9
223.8
119.4
0.0
0.0

2009
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
45.4
361.6
654.2
277.5
71.4
0.0
0.0

2010
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
52.8
408.5
258.1
681.3
41.7
1.0
0.0

The average monthly rainfall for the period of five years (2006 to 2010) obtained from GMS were also used( table 2) .The mean of monthly
rainfall for the period were determined and used as the yearly rainfall value as shown in table 3.

Table 3: Average Annual Rainfall for years 2006 2010.

Years
Rainfall(mm)
2006
191.28
2007
127.66
2008
264.5
2009
232.02
2010
240.57

S. O. Eze and Bola Abdulhamid Afolabi

82

Agricult ure Sci ence Devel opments , 2( 9) Sept e mber 2013

Table 4 shows statistics on rice production for the periods under review and table 5 gives the summary of annual rainfall, temperature and
rice production between 2006 to 2010.The data on table 5 was used to determine the relationship between ;temperature, rainfall pattern and
cereal crops production( rice) in the Gambia.

Table 4: Yearly statistics on rice production (2006-2010)

Year
Cultivated Area
Harvested Area
('000Ha)
( '000 Ha)
2006
8.032
8.032
2007
7.392
7.216
2008
6.058
5.327
2009
8.433
8.043
2010
6.97
4.329

Production
( Tones)
12
11.64
9.07
10.31
8.11

Table 5: Summary of Relationship between average annual temperature, rainfall and Rice production.
Year
Average annual
Average annual
Annual Rice Prod
temp. 0 C
rainfall (mm)
( x 10^3 in Tones)
2006
26.93
191.28
12
2007
26.68
127.66
11.64
2008
27
264.5
9.07
2009
26.5
232.02
10.31
2010
27.48
240.57
8.11

Figure 1: Relationship between average annual rainfall and annual rice production

Result and Discussion

The result of this study was obtained from the data as shown in the tables and figure above. In comparing the relationship between
temperature and rainfall, using table 1c and table 2, the result indicates that decrease in temperature give rise to slight increase in rainfall
considering period of effective rainfall in each year, that is, June to October. Accordingly, the data in table 1c reveal that average monthly
temperature ranges from 24.60C to 28.90C from 2006 to 2010, which shows that there is reasonably consistent ambient temperature in the
area of the study.
Similarly, the average monthly rainfall between 2006 to 2010 ranges from 14.8mm to 654.2mm as revealed on table 2.However, the result
for 2007 show a strict deviation from other years because little rainfall was recorded in May of that year. Although there were 6months of
raining period in 2007, yet, total rainfall in the year was less than the normal five months raining period for each year as indicated in table
2.

Effect of Ambient Temperature and Rainfall on Rice production in The Gambia: A case study of the Central River Region (CRR)

83

Agri culture Scienc e Developments , 2(9) Septe mber 2013

In comparing the relationship between annual rainfall and rice production, it is evident from the table that when average annual rainfall was
191.28mm, the annual rice production stood at 12 thousand tones, as against when it was 127.86mm for 2007 which resulted in the
production value of 11.64 thousand tones. What this means is that the rainfall dropped beyond the required volume affecting the production
rate. Data also revealed that the rice production decreased from 2007 to 2008 due to excessive rainfall in 2008 as compared to 2007.The
data in 2008 and 2009 shows an increase in rice production from 2008 to 2009, the increase according to the data may have been as a result
of reduction in the volume of rainfall in 2009. The implication of this is that too much of rain retard rice growth and consequently
production . Also, the data on table 5, equally reveal that rice require moderate level of rainfall at which it will give maximum yield, that is,
too much rainfall or too little rainfall will result in reduction of yield as implicated by the data on table 5.

Conclusion
The result of this study shows that there is relatively stable temperature, both in the dry season and rainy season in the Gambia. The result
also shows that there is no significant difference in the average monthly temperature both during dry and wet seasons in the Gambia. The
implication of this is that ambient temperature has little or no influence on the amount of rainfall in the study area.
The result also shows that there are certain level of precipitation which encourage good growth and yield of rice. The observations of the
researchers based on the result of this study, indicate that too much rainfall and too little of it retard normal growth and yield of rice. This
observation is derived from the result of the data on table 5. The researchers can safely conclude that rice performs best at
moderate/adequate rainfall spread throughout the growth cycle (90-160days). The overall result show that climate variability resulted in
Crop yield variability.
The result of this study is in line with the study carried out by Bannayan et al (2011) in Iran (NorthEast) where they investigated the role
played by Precipitation, Temperature and climate indices on rainfed crop yield of both Barley and wheat between 1983-2005. Their result
reveal the differences in the association between crop yield and climate factors at different locations.The results of this study are also in
agreement with the works of Wilson, & Webster (2005) who wrote on water requirement of rice in rain-fed upland area, where he stated
that yield is best when water is evenly spread throughout the growth cycle. 5

References
[1] Bannayan, m, Totfabali, S. S.,Sanjani, S, Mohamedian,A, Aghaalikhani, M (2011), Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University,
Mashhad, Iran. banyan@um.ac.ir
[2] Ceesay, M. (2007), food security profile of the Gambia.
[3] Fafanding S. Fatajo (2007) National issues report on key sectors of Agriculture, (Adaptation) in the Gambia.
[4] National Agricultural sample survey (NASS), (2010), Department of planning, Ministry of Agriculture, the Gambia.
[5] United Nations development programme (UNDP), (2007) UNDPs human development index for 2007, the Gambia.
[6] Wilson, C.B.E. & Webster,C.M.G. (2005), Agriculture in the Tropics; Blckwell science limited, UK.