Tomer Malchi hopes that the Charles Bronfman Prize that his nonprofit CultivAid has won, which comes with a $100,000 award, will prove a “catalyst,” the Israeli American told JNS.

The Bronfman award, named in honor of the renowned philanthropist by his children, could show that “there are amazing people on the ground, Israelis with agricultural experience, who are building stronger livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people” in Africa, according to Malchi.

For the past 15 years, Malchi has trained farmers in central and eastern Africa to grow more sustainable and marketable produce and to make more profit.

A few thousand trained farmers have made a positive impact that has altered the economies, education and sustainability of food and water for hundreds of thousands of Africans, according to Malchi.

He told JNS that he will use the money to expand CultivAid’s work in Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia—part of East Africa with 150 million living in extreme poverty and a population expected to double by 2050.

CultivAid’s approach centers on a market focus and what Malchi calls the “agricultural helix.”

When it opens a new location, the nonprofit first establishes a farm to serve as a research and training center. It also brings together local farmers to work together and benefit from economies of scale.

It researches local market needs and identifies crops that will provide a relative economic advantage. It then trains the farmers in sustainable agriculture and quality product development and works with local and international universities on research and training.

“We see it as a responsibility to do good in the world and to take the knowledge that exists in Israel and transfer it out, building local knowledge,” Malchi told JNS. “How do you build stronger ties between Israel and African countries? These are countries with major economies building up.”

“We strongly believe in agricultural diplomacy,” he told JNS, from his home in Tel Aviv. “Agricultural scientific language doesn’t know politics. When we talk about irrigation or plants, we see that this common language can overcome many political difficulties.”

Gideon Behar, Israeli ambassador to Kenya and ambassador-designate to Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Seychelles, told JNS that “agricultural, water and climate diplomacy have become central pillars of Israel’s engagement with Africa.”

Malchi’s work in East Africa “reflects the essence of this approach: deeply human and development-oriented,” the Israeli envoy said.

“Connecting Israeli expertise with local needs, agricultural cooperation strengthens trust, creates long-term partnerships and demonstrates how Israeli civil society engagement can deliver tangible benefits to communities on the ground,” he told JNS.

Malchi told JNS that his nonprofit, which receives no Israeli government funding, invites diplomats from the Jewish state to graduations and special events.

‘Ecosystem-wide impact’

He began his work in Africa in 2013, when he went with a friend from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a doctorate in soil and water sciences, as part of Engineers Without Borders-Israel. The trip aimed to establish a sustainable farm in Ethiopia, Malchi told JNS.

A few years in, he split off into his own effort and created CultivAid. After a decade in Ethiopia, the nonprofit’s staff had to flee local conflict, escorted to safety by a U.N. convoy, Malchi told JNS. CultivAid no longer works in Ethiopia.

The nonprofit has four locations in Tanzania, with its hub in Dodoma, the capital. In Tanzania’s south, the group is working to build agricultural training capacity at Mbeya University of Science and Technology, where it established an agricultural program called Global Food, Energy and Water Lines with the University of Maryland, Nepal’s Kathmandu University and Israel’s Arava Institute.

In the Dodoma area, CultivAid is working in a dozen villages, each of which has about 5,000 residents, according to Malchi.

“Working with 100 farmers from each village impacts that entire 5,000 people,” he said.

The work yields sustainable food and water supplies and income that allows the farmers to send their children to school, which requires more teachers, and so on.

One of CultivAid’s locations “can serve 1,000 farmers or more,” Malchi told JNS. “Our aim is to have an ecosystem-wide impact.”

“If I can create expertise and 100 experts, each one goes to work in a different government or industry with several hundred farmers,” he said. “It’s a multiplier agent.”

Israeli-born, Malchi was 6 when his family moved to Monsey, N.Y., where he grew up. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Cornell University and moved back to Israel at age 26. Now 44, he is married, father of a 4-year-old and a newborn and lives with his family near Tel Aviv.

He isn’t getting to CultivAid’s work sites as often as he once did, he admits, given how hands-on he wants to be with babycare. But soon he intends to return to spending a week there every month or two, he told JNS.

CultivAid’s staff of nearly 100 includes a dozen in its Tel Aviv headquarters, 50 in Tanzania, about 20 in Kenya, and, by the end of the year, it aims to have another 10 in Zambia, according to Malchi.

It raises its annual budget, about $3.5 million, mostly from foundations and private philanthropists. Some 20% to 30% of the budget comes from income generated by its programs, Malchi told JNS.

CultivAid serves as an aggregator and interface between farmers and international produce distributors, for example, and collects modest fees from universities and private companies that use its farms to test new seed varieties, he said.

The Bronfman award honors a Jewish humanitarian leader under 50 each year. Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Stephen Bronfman, with their spouses, Andrew Hauptman and Claudine Blondin Bronfman, founded it in 2004 to honor Charles Bronfman on his 70th birthday.

There is usually a celebratory reception honoring the prize winner, but Malchi’s has been delayed both by war—and, happily, by the arrival of his baby.

   | Read More JNS.org – Jewish News Syndicate