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Business Reporter
The German Amatheon Agri Group and the Japanese Toyota Tsusho Corporation have announced an estimated $10 million agro partnership project in Zambia. The joint venture highlights the increasing importance of the agricultural sector across the continent and will culminate into the building of a large scale agro-project of 2 700 hectares of land for the cropping of maize, wheat and soya.

The collaboration of the two companies is part of the overall development of Amatheon’s already 40 000 hectares titled farm block and the Amatheon-Agri Group will act as the majority stakeholder and operating partner of the company.

Carl Heinrich Bruhn, CEO and founder of Amatheon Group explained that the project represents both companies’ shared understanding of responsible and profitable investment in the growing agricultural sector of Southern Africa.

He added that as part of its sustainable development objectives, the joint venture will engage in the support of local smallholder farmers by providing them with training and access to market.

“We are excited about this partnership and we look forward to leveraging Toyota’s extensive technical know-how and international network with Amatheon Group’s expertise and sound operating procedures,” he said.

Mr Bruhn also revealed that plans to implement a large-scale irrigation project have already been approved by the Zambian Environmental Management Agency, hence the operational phase of the project starts immediately.

The international trading company Toyota Tsusho stems from the Toyota Group and is already active in 53 countries in Africa, while Amatheon Agri is a German agribusiness and food company that operates sustainable agricultural projects in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda.

The group also invests in the food processing sector.