In brief:

• UNDP, the Green Climate Fund, the Government of Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, the Meteorological Services Department, and partner radio stations are boosting farmer climate resilience by delivering practical climate advice via trusted radio across 15 vulnerable districts.
• Radio closes the last-mile information gap where internet is limited, bringing forecasts and climate-smart farming tips directly to rural households.
• Farmers are changing planting, crop, and water decisions — cutting losses and reducing wasted inputs.
• Women farmers gain accessible, voice-driven learning through evening, local-language call-in programmes.
• Direct links to experts turn climate science into practical action and stronger community resilience

As evening settles over most parts of rural Zimbabwe, kitchens come alive. Fires crackle, pots simmer, and families gather for supper. Between 6 and 8 pm, when the day’s fieldwork is done, many women reach for the radio. It plays softly in the background as they cook, serve food, and share a meal, and in those moments, climate information travels from the airwaves straight into everyday life.

Across Zimbabwe’s drought-prone southern provinces, a quiet transformation is unfolding. Not only in the fields, but through the voices carried by local radio stations. As rainfall becomes less predictable and farming risks grow, farmers, extension officers, and community members are tuning in during these evening hours, listening, learning, and adapting together.

What was once background entertainment has become a lifeline. Over the airwaves, women and men hear familiar voices discussing real challenges they face every season: when to plant, what crops to choose, how to save water, and how to prepare for drought, all while continuing with daily household routines.

These radio talk shows form part of the Climate Resilient Livelihoods (CRL) project, funded by the Green Climate Fund and by the Government of Zimbabwe and implemented jointly by UNDP and the government through the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.

The seven-year initiative supports vulnerable farming households, particularly women, across 15 districts in Manicaland, Masvingo, and Matabeleland South. Its goal is simple but urgent: help farmers make informed decisions in the face of climate uncertainty by improving access to water, climate-smart inputs, markets, and reliable weather and climate information.

When Information Travels by Radio

In many rural areas, internet access is unreliable or non-existent. But radios are everywhere, hanging from nails in kitchens, playing from the small phones well known by locals as tumbudzi, resting on ox-drawn carts, or tucked into handbags on the way to the fields. Recognising this, the CRL project partnered with eight radio stations: ZBC National FM, Radio Bukalanga, Hevoi FM, Skyz Metro FM, Diamond FM, Avuxeni FM, GZU Campus Radio, and Beitbridge Shashe Community Radio. These stations bring climate information closer to farmers’ everyday lives.

Each programme sounds less like a lecture and more like a conversation. Climate experts sit side by side with Agritex officers, irrigation experts, researchers, community leaders, and farmers, themselves. Listeners call in, ask questions in local languages, share experiences, and sometimes challenge advice, turning the shows into lively, community-driven spaces.

“Farmers are no longer just listening,” said Naledi Dube, a producer and presenter at Hevoi FM. “They are speaking up. They ask about planting dates, pests, markets, things that matter to them right now. The radio has become a place of confidence.”

Radio: The Farmer’s Bridge to Climate Knowledge

The impact is felt far beyond the studio. During the devastating 2023/24 El Niño drought, many farmers lost entire harvests. But those tuning into climate programmes began to approach the next season differently.

In Mangwe, a group of women farmers say the radio changed how they plant. “We used to rush as soon as the first rains came,” Zitha Ncube explained. “Now we wait. We listen to the seasonal forecast and understand what kind of rains are coming. It has saved us money, seed, and energy.”

Armed with better information, farmers are adjusting cropping calendars, choosing drought-tolerant varieties, conserving water, and avoiding costly replanting. Knowledge heard over the radio is turning into action in the fields.

The radio shows do more than share forecasts. They tell stories of farmers installing solar-powered irrigation, women leading Farmer Field Schools, and communities restoring degraded land. They also keep communities informed about project activities, from irrigation rehabilitation to the installation of weather stations.

“Our aim is to ensure every farmer, woman or man, can understand and use climate information,” says Rebecca Manzou, Director of the Meteorological Services Department. “Through radio, science stops being abstract. It becomes practical.”

Voices That Carry Hope

In a changing climate, certainty is rare. But knowledge, shared in familiar voices and trusted spaces, can restore confidence. Through these radio talk shows, farmers are no longer facing climate change alone.

As smallholder farmers turn off their radios and step back into their fields, they carry more than advice with them. They carry reassurance that their voices matter, that someone is listening, and that the information they need is within reach. Even in uncertain times, resilience travels with them, carried on the airwaves.