HUMAN RIGHTS “Forced to Leave” Commercial Farming and Displacement in Zambia WATCH “Forced to Leave” Commercial Farming and Displacement in Zambia Copyright © 2017 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-35324 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org OCTOBER 2017 ISBN: 978-1-6231-35324 “Forced to Leave” Commercial Farming and Displacement in Zambia Summary and Key Recommendations ................................................................................. 1 Lack of Meaningful Consultations ............................................................................................. 3 Governance Failures .................................................................................................................4 Displacement and Suffering ......................................................................................................4 Legal Obligations .....................................................................................................................4 To the Government of Zambia .................................................................................................. 6 To Commercial Farmers ............................................................................................................ 6 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 17 I.Background ................................................................................................................... 20 Commercial Agriculture in Zambia.......................................................................................... 20 Rural Poverty and the “Panacea” of Agricultural Development ................................................. 22 Villages Throughout “Available” Land ..................................................................................... 23 Government and Customary Land Governance ........................................................................ 24 II.Commercial Farming in Serenje District ........................................................................ 26 Land Conversions in Serenje District ....................................................................................... 27 Major Farm Blocks and Commercial Farms in Serenje District ................................................. 29 Nansanga and Luombwa Farm Blocks .............................................................................. 29 Commercial Farms Operating in Serenje: Six Case Studies ................................................ 31 “Silverlands Farm” ........................................................................................................... 34 “Matthew’s Farm” ............................................................................................................ 35 “Sawyer Farm” ................................................................................................................. 36 “Billis Farm” ..................................................................................................................... 37 “Jackman Farm” ............................................................................................................... 37 “Badcock Farm” ............................................................................................................... 38 III.Evictions and Resettlements in Serenje District ........................................................... 40 Disregard for Long-Term Land Use and Historic Ties ................................................................ 42 Lack of Compensation and Inadequate Resettlement .............................................................. 44 Protections on Paper for Displaced Persons ...................................................................... 45 The Reality of Displacement in Serenje ............................................................................ 46 Silverlands: A Better Example of Corporate Responsibility ................................................ 52 Women’s Exclusion from Compensation and Resettlement Discussions ............................ 53 Destruction of Assets ....................................................................................................... 54 Evictions ................................................................................................................................ 55 Forced Evictions ............................................................................................................... 55 Court-Ordered Eviction ..................................................................................................... 58 IV.The Human Cost of Commercial Farming in Serenje District .......................................... 62 Food Insecurity ....................................................................................................................... 63 Water Insecurity ..................................................................................................................... 67 Concerns About Health ........................................................................................................... 70 Inaccessible Education ........................................................................................................... 72 Inability to Seek Redress ........................................................................................................ 74 V.Regulatory and Governance Failures ............................................................................. 77 Environmental and Social Impact Assessments and Monitoring .............................................. 77 Operation without Licenses or Certificates ............................................................................. 80 Lack of Transparency .............................................................................................................. 81 Lack of Coordination and Monitoring ..................................................................................... 82 Problems with Decentralizing Authority to District Councils .................................................... 84 Failure to Provide Information to Commercial Farmers ............................................................ 86 VI.Human Rights Obligations and Responsibilities .......................................................... 88 Rights to Housing and Property .............................................................................................. 89 Prohibition of Forced Evictions ........................................................................................ 90 Guidance to States to Avoid Forced Evictions ................................................................... 92 Rights to Food, Water, Health and Education ........................................................................... 93 Responsibilities of Commercial Farmers .................................................................................. 95 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 97 To the Government of Zambia ................................................................................................. 97 To Commercial Farmers .......................................................................................................... 99 To International and Regional Financial Institutions .............................................................. 100 To Bilateral and Multilateral Donors ...................................................................................... 100 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 101 SUMMARY AND KEY RECOMMENDATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2017 Soybean field on a commercial farm in Central province, Zambia. Several rural communities in Serenje district have been forced off land they have always lived on and farmed to make way for commercial farming. SUMMARY The Zambian government regards agriculture as a “panacea” for rural poverty, and the country’s leaders have been promoting agribusiness investments on huge swaths of land. However, flaws in the government’s regulation of commercial agriculture, and its poor efforts at protecting the rights of vulnerable people, instead of helping people climb out of the poverty mire, are actually hurting them. Families that have lived and farmed for generations on land now allocated to commercial farms are being displaced without due process or compensation. Some have been left hungry and homeless. (above) Excavator used to clear land on a commercial farm in Luombwa farm block, Serenje district, after long-term rural residents