Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions under maize-based cropping systems remain insufficiently quantified, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the impact of climate change on N2O emissions has been largely underexplored. Here, we monitored N2O emissions during two years (2023-24, 2024-25) at an on-station rainfall manipulation field experiment in Zimbabwe. Three different rainfall regimes are applied, reduced rainfall (-30%), ambient rainfall, and heavy rainfall (addition of 100 mm/day two times per year) and 7 different cropping systems including maize and cowpea sole crops, maize-cowpea intercropping systems. The experiment was established as a split-plot trial with three replicates on a Rhodic Ferralsol. N2O fluxes were measured repeatedly using static chambers alongside soil water-filled pore space, temperature, and mineral nitrogen. Cumulative and yield-scaled N2O emissions were calculated. Heavy rainfall significantly increased cumulative emissions (309.2 g N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹), while reduced and ambient rainfall resulted in lower emissions (208.3 and 229.4 kg N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹, respectively). Sole cowpea had the highest cumulative emissions (374.04 g N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹). Intercropping systems at full density with full N fertilization (335.73 kg N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹) emitted more than fully fertilized sole maize (330.89 g N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹), intercropping at half density with half N fertilization (246.5.83 kg N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹), non-fertilized sole maize (123.91 g N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹) and mulched sole maize with or without fertilization (275.74 and 153.19 g N2O–N ha¿¹ yr¿¹). These results highlight that rainfall extremes can influence N2O emissions, yet crop and nutrient management remain critical for mitigating emissions under increasing climate variability.