By Thabisani Dube
For many Zimbabweans, climate change is no longer an abstract environmental issue discussed at international conferences. It is being felt in fields that dry before crops mature, water sources that fail, classrooms damaged by storms and households forced to make difficult choices about food, water and livelihoods.
At Sianyanga Primary School in Dete, Hwange District, Matabeleland North Province, teacher Sibonile Ncube says changing rainfall patterns are making life increasingly unpredictable.
“Now, we don’t know what to expect. The rains come late, or sometimes not at all. Our fields remain dry, and the community suffers,” Ncube told New Ziana.
Zimbabwe has been getting warmer, while rainfall patterns have become increasingly variable. According to the Government of Zimbabwe’s climate assessments, the country’s mean annual surface temperature has increased by about 0.9°C since the early 20th century, while rainfall patterns have become more variable, with changes in the timing and duration of the rainy season.
These long-term changes are increasing risks for agriculture, water resources and communities whose livelihoods depend heavily on the natural environment.
Droughts have also become more frequent. The World Bank reported that agricultural droughts increased from about one in 10 growing seasons between 1902 and 1979 to about one in four between 1980 and 2011.
The 2023/24 El Niño-induced drought exposed the scale of Zimbabwe’s vulnerability, with rural households facing crop failures, water shortages and declining livelihoods.
For farmers, a changing climate is forcing difficult decisions.
In Mangwe District, Matabeleland South, farmer Zitha Ncube says seasonal forecasts have helped her adjust when and what she plants.
“We used to rush as soon as the first rains came. Now we wait. We listen to the seasonal forecast on the radio and understand what kind of rains are coming. It has saved us money, seed, and energy,” said Ncube.
For farmers whose livelihoods depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture, information can be as important as seed and fertiliser.
A seven-year Climate Resilient Livelihoods initiative supported by the Government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Development Programme is working with vulnerable smallholder farming communities, particularly women, across 15 districts in Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South.
The programme supports access to water, climate-resilient agriculture, markets and weather and climate information.
Radio has become an important part of that effort.
Programmes featuring meteorologists, agricultural experts and extension officers provide information on planting dates, crop choices, water and soil conservation and drought-risk reduction.
At Hevoi FM in Masvingo, producer and presenter Samuel Kuchinga says listeners are increasingly turning the programmes into conversations.
“Farmers are no longer just listening. They are speaking up. They ask about planting dates, pests, markets, things that matter to them right now.”
For communities with limited internet access, such platforms can help close an important information gap.
But climate impacts extend beyond agriculture.
In Chezhou Village, Hwange District, 11-year-old Thubelihle Ndlovu says water shortages affect both household life and schooling.
“When the rains come, there is food. But now, we sometimes have to walk long distances to fetch water. It’s hard to go to school when you’re hungry,” Ndlovu told New Ziana.
In nearby Magoli Village, 14-year-old Tapfuma Nyathi says severe storms are also damaging homes and schools.
“Sometimes the storms are so strong, they tear off the roofs from classrooms and homes,” Nyathi told New Ziana.
At Lumbora Secondary School in Hwange District, a severe storm damaged the roof of a classroom block in 2023, disrupting learning. In 2024, revenue generated through the CAMPFIRE programme was used to restore the roof, helping improve the learning environment and demonstrating how community resources can support recovery from climate-related damage.
For children, climate change can therefore become an education issue.
For households dependent on agriculture, it can become a food-security issue.
And for women who shoulder much of the responsibility for farming, water collection and household care, it can become a health and equality issue.
The link between climate change and individual weather events must nevertheless be made carefully. Not every drought, flood or storm can automatically be attributed to human-caused climate change. Scientists use attribution studies to determine whether climate change has made a particular event more likely or more intense.
But the broader pattern is clear: Zimbabwe is experiencing rising temperatures and changing rainfall characteristics, while climate-sensitive communities remain heavily dependent on agriculture and natural resources.
Dr Benjamin Mandevere, Principal Climate Change Adaptation Officer in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, said climate change was influencing many of the disasters being experienced in Zimbabwe.
“Climate change is, in one way or the other, actually influencing almost all the disasters that we have mentioned,” he said during a Zimbabwe Youth Symposium on Disaster Risk Reduction in June 2026.
The consequences are not distributed equally.
A study published in 2026 in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Public Health examined the gendered health impacts of climate change on women smallholder farmers in Mhondoro-Ngezi, Mashonaland West Province.
The researchers found that high temperatures, recurrent droughts and erratic rainfall were associated with dehydration, heat stress, food insecurity and reduced dietary diversity among the women studied. The research also highlighted constraints on women’s ability to adapt, including limited resources.
The findings illustrate why climate change is also a question of human rights and justice.
When crops fail, families can struggle to secure adequate food.
When water sources dry up, women and children may spend more time searching for water.
When extreme heat affects farmers’ health, those whose livelihoods depend on working outdoors have fewer opportunities to escape exposure.
And when storms damage schools, children can lose safe and suitable spaces for learning.
Across Zimbabwe, farmers are responding with different adaptation measures.
In Mwenezi, Masvingo Province, farmer Chizivano Shava uses water harvesting and climate-smart farming practices. As a lead farmer, he promotes rainwater harvesting, drought-resistant crops, soil-water conservation and mulching.
A 2024 study involving 483 smallholder farmers in the Gwayi catchment area in Matabeleland North found widespread use of adaptation strategies including soil-water conservation, drought-resistant crops, early sowing and livelihood diversification.
However, farmers reported constraints including limited access to water, quality and improved seed varieties, technology and finance.
This leaves a critical question: how much of the burden of climate adaptation should fall on communities already struggling with limited resources?
Farmers can change planting dates.
They can conserve soil.
They can harvest rainwater.
They can listen to weather forecasts.
But adaptation becomes much harder when households lack reliable water, finance, improved seed, technology and infrastructure.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation has also supported Farmer Field Schools in Zimbabwe, where farmers learn through practical field-based activities covering crops, water management and soil conservation.
Such approaches recognise that climate resilience cannot be achieved through information alone. Communities need the resources to act on that information.
The growing demand for climate information has also strengthened the role of radio.
Rebecca Manzou, Director of the Meteorological Services Department, said radio could make scientific information easier for farmers to apply in their daily lives.
“Through radio, science stops being abstract. It becomes practical and useable,” Manzou said.
The challenge for Zimbabwe is now to ensure that climate information is matched by meaningful investment.
Early-warning systems must reach the people most at risk.
Weather information must be understandable and accessible.
Farmers need access to water, climate-resilient seed, finance and appropriate technology.
Schools and other public infrastructure need to withstand increasingly difficult weather conditions.
And adaptation programmes must reach communities whose livelihoods and health are most exposed to climate shocks.
Zimbabwe’s climate story is therefore no longer simply about droughts, floods, storms or rising temperatures.
It is about who has water when the rains fail.
Who has food when crops are lost.
Who can afford to adapt.
Who remains in school when extreme weather damages classrooms.
And whose health suffers when heat, drought and water scarcity intensify.
For communities already living close to the edge, climate change can turn an environmental shock into a crisis of food, health, education and livelihood security.
Zimbabwe’s ability to withstand a changing climate will depend not only on the resilience of its people, but also on whether institutions provide the resources, infrastructure, information and protection needed to make that resilience possible.
The future of climate resilience will ultimately be measured not only in tonnes of crops harvested or hectares under irrigation, but in whether families can secure water, children can remain in school, farmers can protect their livelihoods and vulnerable communities can face a changing climate without being left to carry its costs alone.
