Enock Chikava

Enock Chikava

Director, Agricultural Delivery Systems

Enock Chikava leads the foundation’s work to reduce poverty for millions of farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by promoting inclusive agricultural innovations that drive productivity and income growth for smallholder farmers in a sustainable way.

He joined the foundation in April 2015 as a senior program officer focusing on crop innovations.

Enock trained in Agricultural Economics and Business Strategy, with 30-years’ experience in agriculture. His career spans from farmer organizations, private sector seed industry, agribusiness, food processing, and now philanthropy. Enock Chikava is a board member of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and former president of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA).

He was raised on a smallholder farm in Zimbabwe in a family of eleven and has dedicated his life to working towards smallholder farmers' success as they use technology to raise productivity, incomes, nutrition, and economically empower themselves.

See articles by Enock Chikava

A farm worker spreads fertilizer over their rice field in village near Rosso in the Senegal River valley in October 2022.

The war in Ukraine sparked a global food crisis. One year later, here’s where things stand.

Our agriculture expert shares an update on the state of global food security, and why the potential for innovation gives him reason for optimism.
By Enock Chikava Director, Agricultural Delivery Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
A man holds bread being sold at a high price in a supermarket in Lagos, Nigeria on March 15, 2022.

The world food system is under threat. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Ukraine-related spikes in food prices are only the latest evidence that the global agricultural system is broken. Governments around the world need to invest in a more resilient system that ensures a decent livelihood for smallholder farmers and prevents hunger in the face of crises of all kinds.
By Enock Chikava Director, Agricultural Delivery Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
A farmer sifts through corn harvested from hybrid drought-resistant maize seed on her smallholder farm in Kenya.

Smallholder farming is a proven path out of poverty, but climate change is changing the rules

Urgent action is needed to help smallholder farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa adapt to climate change, which is already creating crisis conditions that threaten the livelihoods of millions of people.
By Enock Chikava Director, Agricultural Delivery Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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