On a sunny day in Choma, Zambia, Cornwell Hademu shares a traditional drink—and a powerful idea. In this season finale of Nature Answers, we meet Kelvin Siafweba and the team from Happy Planet, a cooperative of people recovering from addiction who are turning agricultural waste into sustainable charcoal and soil-enhancing biochar.

But this episode is about more than just climate solutions. It’s about second chances.

Learn how biochar—an ancient soil amendment with roots in the Amazon—is helping Zambian farmers restore their land and helping people recovering from substance use reclaim their lives. Together with Cornwell, this group is proving that nature-based solutions can support climate resilience, community health, and economic opportunity—all at once.

This episode is hosted by Ivy Prosper, produced by Sarah St-Pierre and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

Under the Mochipapa tree in Choma, Zambia, is a research station. The researchers there are studying drought-resistant crops and sustainable farming—with the help of farmers like last episode’s Cornwell Hademu. 

In this episode of Nature Answers, you’ll hear about the challenges involved in sustainable farming when your country is in the middle of a drought and electricity is scarce. 

But you’ll also see how far Cornwell’s influence is growing. Meet Astire Muchele, an employee of the Mochipapa Research Station. She’s transformed her farm in recent years—and is preparing to take the next step in her farming journey. Her story shows what happens when you combine grassroots resilience with nature-based solutions.

Together, these changemakers show us how knowledge-sharing, mentorship, and community partnerships can reshape how a region farms—and survives—in the face of climate change.

This episode was hosted by Ivy Prosper, written and produced by Sarah St-Pierre and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

When Cornwell Hademu, of Choma, Zambia, started mentoring the women of nearby Mbole, he was sure it would help them on their fields and their farms. What wasn’t clear was just how far that mentorship would take the women. 

In the past few years, the Twachiyanda Women’s Group has gone from foraging for food in the surrounding area, to weathering a drought thanks to Cornwell’s mentorship on nature-based solutions. And they’re now starting to bring their own influence to the surrounding community by not only bringing along their men in their journey, but providing a safe space for young women who have given birth to land as they go back to school. 

Join host Ivy Prosper as she takes us on a journey through Cornwell’s own history, and the ripple effects his influence has had on an entire community. 

This is the first episode in a three-part series written and produced by Sarah St-Pierre and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff. 

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

In Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa and rubber farms, yields are dwindling due to deforestation and rising temperatures. In this episode we meet farmers like Gbagnon Jean-Pierre Lodugnon who have been farming those fields for a lifetime. Alongside fellow farmers Aicha Fofana and Lamini Zoungrana, Jean-Pierre faces a difficult choice: keep relying on traditional crops that no longer thrive—or make space for trees and embrace agroforestry.

In this episode of Nature Answers, host Ivy Prosper explores how these farmers are navigating the trade-offs of short-term income versus long-term sustainability, and how government reforestation initiatives are changing minds and rebuilding the landscape.

This episode was produced by Dominique Gené and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

In Northern Uganda, a community once torn apart by war is regrowing its future—one tree at a time. In this episode, we travel to Bar Opok, a rural village in Northern Uganda, to learn how a resilient community is reclaiming its forests. Once devastated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, the land was stripped bare, its people displaced, and its environment left vulnerable to erosion, heat, and storms.

Meet Walter Atine, village chairman, and John Ogwal, founder of the Dwok Can Ipur Group, whose grassroots reforestation efforts are helping restore both the landscape and community spirit. With support from organizations like Kijani Forestry and a growing network of determined residents—including youth and women like Evelyne Awor—the village has planted over 5,000 trees, welcoming back biodiversity and hope.

And, you’ll hear from young leader Benard Odongo, whose passion for nature is inspiring a new generation, and experience the sounds of Bar Opok—from birdsong to local music—captured in the heart of the reemerging forest.

This episode was hosted by Ivy Prosper. It was produced by Emma Stuart Kiss and it was edited by Tara Sprickerhoff and Emma Stuart-Kiss.

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

Nestled on a narrow strip between the Gulf of Guinea and the Keta Lagoon, the Ghanaian village of Setsinu has long depended on its unique geography for farming and fishing. But climate change is transforming that blessing into a threat.

Setsinu’s proximity to water has left it at a high risk of flooding, and in recent years those floods have wiped out crops and displaced families. Through the voices of farmers like Selorm Akli, Olivia Abogado, Simon Avor, and Sylvanus Nyidewu, you’ll hear how the community is responding—not just with resilience, but by turning to ancestral knowledge.

They’re rebuilding bunds, traditional earthen barriers once used to protect farmland from floodwaters. It’s a nature-based solution passed down through generations, now being revived to meet the challenges of today.

This episode was produced by Jonah Grignon, and hosted by Ivy Prosper. 

Edited by Jonah Grignon and Tara Sprickerhoff. 

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

In Kugzua, Ghana, farmers were falling sick. They soon determined the cause: chemical fertilizer. But faced with a choice between poor crops and poor health, farmers stuck with what they were told would keep them fed—until they encountered another option. It’s one that both stemmed from their traditions, and promised a healthier future for both them and their crops. 

In this environmental food fight, we meet farmers like Abraham Abubilla Abuari, Christiana Akparibo, and Judith Atama who are leaning into tradition and trying something new to them—compost. Find out how exactly they create the natural fertilizer, and why this technique is helping them deal with the changing climate. 

Credits

This episode was written and produced in Ghana by Tamara Merritt with support from Farm Radio International’s Accra office. It was hosted by Ivy Prosper and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff. Special thanks to local translators, Quality Radio FM, and the farmers who shared their stories. Translations were voiced by Eunice Gakpetor, Abraham Atubila and Jill Adinkrah.

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

Yaara stands as a lone, lush oasis in its part of Ghana. And yet, women in the town have to walk six miles every day to fetch water. Despite pressure from surrounding communities, Yaara has decided against cutting their trees to make a profit by producing charcoal. Why? They’re holding out hope they can bring their water access back. Community members, including Chief Nana Yaw Sumaa, the Queen Mother, and local farmers like Aisha Gbinda, share their insights on why they hope protecting the forest will do exactly that: help their rivers flow again. 

This episode was written and reported by Justin Fiacconi and hosted by Ivy Prosper. Find pictures of the people you hear from in this story at farmradio.org.

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

When Jessica Sheillah Aanyu moved a six hour bus and motorcycle ride from home, she found herself asking, “What can I do to make a difference.” When an illness threatened her life, she asked herself, “What have I left behind that the world will be proud of.” 

The answers to these questions led to founding Trees for Life, an environmental organization started by Jessica and her husband that brings trees and education to people in her Ugandan home. 

This International Women’s Day, meet a woman whose drive and purpose have grown from a single tree in the ground to a movement that makes room for everyone: from a school for the deaf to the other women she sees every day. 

This podcast was produced by Olivia Rumbell and edited by Tara Sprickerhoff. It is hosted by Ivy Prosper.

Transcripts and photos are available at https://farmradio.org/s2e4-how-one-woman-is-changing-teso/

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada. 

Mangroves are money-makers in coastal Côte d’Ivoire. And the fish you can cook with the smoke from their branches are delicious. But the very practice of cutting down the trees to burn put the fish in danger. So people like Jean-Claude Kaké have had to make a choice: Do you keep cutting the trees to make money in order to feed your family? Or do you forgo the cash for a future that might take years to appear?  

Finding the answer has not been easy for people in Dabéda and Niani, in the Sassandra region in the west of Cote d’Ivoire. And their choices have meant sacrifice.  

So meet the people behind the decisions, from Serge Doutché, who founded an NGO to protect the mangroves, to Ève Inago, who is weighing the education of her children with a future for her children.  

Produced and written by Jack Wilson.  Edited by Tara Sprickerhoff. Hosted by Ivy Prosper

More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers

This is a Farm Radio International podcast produced thanks to funding from the Government of Canada.