Antoinette Tshiani

A Congolese environmental scientist and educator who pioneered eco-friendly agriculture in Central Africa during the 1990s

Dr. Antoinette Tshiani (b. 1952) is a visionary Congolese agronomist whose work transformed agricultural practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Completing her PhD in 1989 at the University of Liège, she returned to DRC to develop sustainable farming methods that prevent deforestation while improving crop yields. Her 'Agroforestry for Food Security' model, introduced in 1994, combines tree planting with food crops - a technique now used by over 200,000 farmers.

During the Congo Wars (1998-2003), Tshiani worked with displaced communities to establish community gardens that provided food security while preventing soil erosion. Her 2001 initiative Jardins d'Espoir (Gardens of Hope) created 150 urban farms in Kinshasa, proving that even war-torn cities could achieve food self-sufficiency. She also co-founded the Center for International Forestry Research in 1993, which continues her work across tropical regions.

Tshiani's research on nitrogen-fixing trees has been adopted by the FAO and UNCCD, and her 1998 book Greening the Congo Basin remains a key reference in agroecology. Despite facing gender barriers in male-dominated scientific circles, she became the first woman to lead the DRC National Agricultural Research Institute (INERA) from 2005-2010. Her work has been profiled in Nature magazine and the BBC.