The Food and Agriculture Organization in Colombia
For decades, rural life and agriculture have been the epicenter of Colombia’s social, economic, and political developments. Sometimes overlooked and sometimes in the spotlight, rural and agricultural development are the key to Colombia’s development and prosperity. Most of the country’s well-known social violence and political conflicts strive from the fact that the Colombian countryside has been overlooked for decades by public policy and, thus, underdeveloped, which leads many to engage with illegal economies and subversive activities. Nevertheless, the new social and political opportunities ushered in by the Peace Accords brokered by the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, give the country a unique window of opportunity to develop the countryside in an unprecedented way and lift large sectors of the rural population into the middle class.
The Food and Agriculture Organization in Colombia
Aware of these dynamics, the Colombian Rural Development Agency has been hard at work since its creation in 2015, as the Peace Accords were finalized and are being implemented. In this regard, the Colombian government has been working closely with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), particularly since 2016, when the FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva officially visited the South American nation. Seizing the historic moment of pacification in the Colombian countryside, the FAO and the national government have announced a partnership aimed at injecting US$8.7 million into rebuilding rural communities and boosting agricultural competitiveness throughout 16 of the country’s 32 administrative departments. The programs that will be a part of these initiatives are part of a comprehensive territorial approach to rural development, while simultaneously being tailored to the specific needs of each community in which they are being implemented. Some of the key elements to these initiatives are: helping farmers access financing for agricultural projects, creating partnerships between family operations and private sector businesses, and providing technical and methodological assistance to the rural base seeking to advance agribusiness. Ultimately, both the FAO and the Colombian government expect that the experience of this first round of initiatives funding will bring about a replicable model for the future implementation of more rural development programs.
Furthermore, the Colombian government expects that rural development will strengthen the national economy, bring about larger amounts of foreign direct investment, increase agricultural exports, broaden foodstuffs availability throughout national markets, increase food independence, and decrease the number of undernourished Colombians, which currently stands at approximately 4.4 million. Even though more than 75% of Colombia’s 49 million citizens currently live in an urban setting, rural development and illicit crops remain a major challenge for the country. Major initiatives, such as the ones discussed above, will allow the Colombia’s economy and its people to move forward as well as develop to their maximum potential. Similarly, a prosperous countryside could even allow the thousands of internally displaced people within Colombia to return to their homes in order to live safely and prosper peacefully.