BERLIN – German human rights activists yesterday accused Berlin-based agricultural company Amatheon Agri of violently forcing Zambian farmers off their land and seizing their livestock. 

Amatheon Agri strongly denies the allegations.

At least four villages in Zambia were violently cleared in 2024 to make way for the company’s farming activities, German NGO FIAN said, with about 760 people kicked off their land.

“During the evictions in which Amatheon employees were involved, numerous houses were destroyed or set on fire,” said Jan Urhahn, one of the authors of a FIAN study on the matter.

“Entire village communities lost their homes and crops in a short space of time,” he added.

The evictions in the villages of Apex, Chiyabuka, Mambanga and Sibanda were part of a pattern, FIAN alleged, with “local sources” indicating that up to 11 000 people in 19 villages are at risk.

FIAN also accuses Amatheon Agri of confiscating cows that have wandered onto land it claims as its own and forcing locals to buy them back.

Roman Herre, also of FIAN, said the German government should bring Amatheon Agri to account if Zambian authorities proved unable to do so.

“It needs to take effective administrative, investigatory and legal measures to ensure that German companies respect human rights abroad,” he said.

Max Sturm, head of Amatheon Agri, said the company “strongly” denied the claims.
“For as long as it has been doing business in Zambia, Amatheon Agri Zambia has strictly complied with applicable laws, approval procedures and environmental regulations,” he said.

“The accusations in the FIAN study have no basis and do not reflect the reality on the ground.”

The company sells crops including wheat and onions in sub-Saharan Africa, it says, and exports others including chili peppers and white quinoa out of the continent.

In June 2024, Zambian nationals demonstrated outside Amatheon Agri’s Berlin headquarters. – Nampa/AFP