ABSTRACT
This chapter examines narratives in Mutoko District in Mashonaland East Province, based on original fieldwork. The concern is to comprehend how farmers problematise their circumstances – the specific circumstances being climatic changes. This is imperative because there is a lucid discrepancy between the conclusions of macro assessments and the experiences of local societies living with environmental change. The chapter derives from broader empirical research on understanding climate variability and livelihood adaptation conducted in Mutoko district. It discusses the more localised narratives of smallholder farmers in Mutoko district. The chapter focuses on religious and cultural reasons because a lot of intriguing findings around these aspects emerged during qualitative interviews. It presents the climatic changes occurring in Charewa through elaborating on farmers' concerns. To borrow from sociologist Margaret Archer everyone has concerns in the natural, practical and social order of reality. The findings in the study reveal that farmers have diverse interpretations of changes in climate variability.
