Tonthoza Uganja: Restoring Land by Putting Farmers at the Centre
Written by Admin • 2026-10-29 01:30:00
Tonthoza Uganja leads Sustainable Farming Solutions, a Malawi-based social enterprise combining agroforestry, carbon finance, and community ownership to support land restoration and more resilient rural livelihoods.
Tonthoza Uganja: Agroforestry and Land Restoration in Malawi
Connecting environmental science with farmer participation to restore degraded land.
The Connection Between Land and Livelihoods
Healthy land is essential to agriculture, but degraded soil can make farming more difficult and threaten rural livelihoods. Farmers facing declining soil productivity often have limited resources to invest in long-term restoration, particularly when they depend on the same land for immediate income and food needs. Tonthoza Uganja approaches this challenge through the intersection of environmental science and social enterprise. As the founder and CEO of Sustainable Farming Solutions (SFS), she combines restoration science, agroforestry, carbon finance, and community ownership to create sustainable farming solutions in Malawi.
Uganja’s work emphasizes that land restoration is more likely to be sustained when the people managing the land have a meaningful role in the process and can share in its benefits. By integrating farmers into the restoration process, Uganja not only addresses environmental challenges but also enhances the livelihoods of those most affected by land degradation.
Making Agroforestry Work for Farmers
Agroforestry integrates trees with agricultural systems, providing benefits such as shade, soil protection, and organic matter contribution. However, the success of agroforestry depends on various factors including species selection, rainfall, soil type, and ongoing maintenance. Sustainable Farming Solutions works with farming communities to restore degraded landscapes through agroforestry, utilizing carbon finance to help fund transitions that farmers may otherwise struggle to afford.
By creating a funding structure that supports long-term land management, Uganja's model connects environmental goals with the financial realities of rural life. This innovative approach allows farmers to participate actively in the restoration process, ensuring that they benefit from the changes made to their environment.
Those who restore the land should have a meaningful stake in its future.— Editorial Perspective
Connecting Carbon Finance with Community Ownership
Carbon finance can provide resources for projects that store or avoid greenhouse-gas emissions. In land restoration, the outcomes depend on what is planted, how land is managed, and how results are measured. Uganja emphasizes community ownership, ensuring that those who restore the land also benefit from the process. This principle is vital as environmental projects can lose local trust if communities bear the burden of work without receiving fair benefits.
For carbon-funded restoration initiatives to succeed, sound measurement, clear agreements, and accountability to participating communities are essential. Uganja’s model not only promotes environmental restoration but also prioritizes the interests of local farmers, making it a holistic approach to sustainable development.
Facts & Insights
- Founder and CEO: Uganja leads Sustainable Farming Solutions, a women-led agroforestry social enterprise based in Malawi.
- Academic background: She holds degrees in forestry and restoration-related fields, including a PhD in forest landscape restoration.
- Reported scale: UCLA’s profile lists 9,000 hectares under active agreements with the initiative.
9,000
ha: Area under active agreements reported by UCLA.
2025
Uganja was named a Mulago Foundation Henry Arnhold Fellow.
2026
She was nominated for the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.
3
Degrees: Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral qualifications
Restoration with Shared Benefits
Tonthoza Uganja’s journey highlights the importance of connecting environmental science with the realities of rural life. Restoring land requires time, knowledge, and resources, but it also requires the participation of the people who depend on that land. By bringing agroforestry and community-centered finance together, her work explores how restoration can become not only an environmental objective, but also a pathway towards more resilient livelihoods.
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By GJU Malawi - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gju_malawi/55331508325/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=193753486 [expanded by using generative image]