{"id":83400,"date":"2026-05-14T18:42:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=83400"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:42:10","slug":"how-jbs-the-worlds-largest-meat-company-is-gearing-up-to-plunder-nigerians-land-for-corporate-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/83400\/how-jbs-the-worlds-largest-meat-company-is-gearing-up-to-plunder-nigerians-land-for-corporate-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"How JBS, the world\u2019s largest meat company, is gearing up to plunder Nigerians\u2019 land for corporate profit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My name is Elizabeth, a Pan-African food campaigner with Greenpeace Africa working to defend food sovereignty, ecological justice and community rights across the continent. A few months ago, Greenpeace Africa called out JBS<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest meat company, which has signed a $2.5 billion deal<\/a> to import its dangerous business model to Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s why last week I was in Amsterdam, where I watched as Greenpeace Netherlands and dozens of activists took over  the JBS\u2019 first shareholder meeting<\/a> since it became a Dutch company in 2025. The purpose? Deliver a Disclosure Letter, a first step toward legal action<\/a> that could stop JBS\u2019 aggressive expansion plans in their tracks.<\/p>\n\n

\"Greenpeace
Greenpeace Netherlands activists have disrupted the first-ever shareholder meeting of meat giant JBS in the Netherlands. At the Sheraton Hotel at Schiphol Airport, where the meeting took place, activists hung a banner dripping with fake blood that read: \u2018JBS: Keep your bloody business out of Africa\u2019. A massive banner with the same message was displayed in the hotel lobby. Activists entered the meeting hall, where Greenpeace Director Marieke Vellekoop personally served an information request to the JBS CEOs. This document formally signals that Greenpeace Netherlands is taking legal action against the company. The goal of the legal battle is to block JBS’s destructive expansion plans in Nigeria.
\u00a9 Marten van Dijl \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The letter demands that JBS make public plans, impact assessments and consultations about its Nigeria expansion – and seeing JBS executives fleeing their own meeting made clear how desperate they are to avoid scrutiny. But they can\u2019t escape our message: Keep JBS\u2019 bloody business out of Africa. <\/p>\n\n

When multinationals talk about new markets and “geographic diversification\u201d<\/a> in the Global South, what they often mean is taking control over land, water, food systems and livelihoods. Nigerians have seen first-hand the destruction that another infamous Dutch company, Shell, already wrought on their country: decades of environmental destruction, pollution and broken promises. JBS follows the same playbook: peddling empty promises, refusing transparency, and ignoring civil society.<\/p>\n\n

JBS has not made public critical information about the impact their plans will have on local communities and on the land and the water they depend on – the things that matter for their immediate security – as well as globally through climate change and biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n\n

But based on JBS\u2019 track record \u2013 a business model characterised by massive emissions and linked to environmental destruction, corruption scandals and human rights violations \u2013 that expansion will come at an intolerable cost to people and planet. All to line their pockets. <\/p>\n\n

Well, not on our watch.<\/p>\n\n

How we stop JBS\u2019 expansion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

JBS was warned last year<\/a>, before it relocated its headquarters from Brazil to the Netherlands, that as a Dutch company it would need to play by Dutch law. Greenpeace Netherlands is now laying the foundation for a legal challenge in court to block JBS\u2019 expansion plans. This is on the grounds that  by causing dangerous harm to climate, nature and human rights , it is in breach of Dutch law.<\/p>\n\n

That is why Greenpeace Netherlands has given JBS three weeks to release the files that could help expose the true scale of the damage its expansion will cause. Under a new Dutch law, if JBS doesn\u2019t hand them over, Greenpeace Netherlands can petition a Dutch court to compel it to do so. And in those files, dear friends, we believe is the information that would allow JBS\u2019 dangerous $6 billion announced expansion plans , nearly half of which is earmarked for Nigeria , to be assessed and challenged in the Dutch courts.<\/p>\n\n

Stopping their plans will leave space for the real solutions for nature and food sovereignty Africa needs.

And the success of a campaign like this relies on the support from people like you. <\/p>\n\n

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7 DAYS LEFT – EMAIL THE JBS BOARD TO RELEASE THE FILES NOW<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

JBS is already \u201cactive\u201d in Nigeria<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

In its agreement with Nigeria\u2019s government, JBS has pledged to build six giant meat-processing plants that would permanently alter Nigerian food production. These plans are framed as a solution to “food insecurity.” But let\u2019s be clear about what this really is: a massive corporate takeover that threatens to lock in spiralling emissions for decades, drain water sources, and upend the food sovereignty that millions of families depend on.<\/p>\n\n

After its expansion plans were splashed across Dutch media last week,  JBS told journalists<\/a> that it isn’t “active” in Nigeria yet and that \u201cthey will inform shareholders when they are\u201d.  This type of evasive statement is absolutely typical for JBS. But let\u2019s be frank: you don\u2019t announce a $2.5 billion deal unless you mean business. And what limited information is public gives a strong indication of just how far their plans have advanced already.<\/p>\n\n

In Niger state, the government has already publicly pledged<\/a> a staggering 1.2 million hectares of land – an area the size of the Gambia – for this expansion. And as the Governor of Ogun state acknowledged last year<\/a> in the presence of JBS\u2019 billionaire bosses Josley and Wesley Batista, JBS has already dispatched a “technical team to Nigeria to conduct feasibility studies” to expand into his state.<\/p>\n\n

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Ogun to Benefit as World\u2019s Largest Protein Producer Invests $2.5bn in Nigeria

Ogun State is set to benefit significantly as JBS of Brazil, the world\u2019s largest protein producer, has committed to investing $2.5 billion in Nigeria\u2019s livestock subsector through a strategic\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/0WNexPHi8M<\/a><\/p>— Prince Dr. Dapo Abiodun, CON (@DapoAbiodunCON) February 23, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>