The Minister of Agriculture, Cecilia López, reported yesterday on the progress to be able to implement the agrarian reform in Colombia and said that sales proposals have already been received. of 1.7 million extensions, corresponding to 3,420 properties offered.
(Also read: ‘The majority of proposals are from medium-sized owners’).
Of that total, there are 420 that come from producers affiliated with the National Federation of Cattlemen (Fedegán). These complete a total of 284,000 hectares. As recalled, the reform process had a boost after the Government reached an agreement with the union led by José Félix Lafaurie to buy three million hectares from the livestock sector.
For example, in the Caribbean region and Magdalena Medio there are 58,000 hectares offered by the ranchers as part of the agreement signed by the National Government and that association.
(Of interest: Without oil and gas exploration, income and investment are hit hard).
only productive land
Regarding the acquisition process, Minister López explained that you can only buy land that is highly productive, that does not flood and that has been legitimately acquired by its current owners.
In addition, the official explained that land deliveries to peasants will be made collectively and that will be accompanied by large productive projects.
“Once you have the land and we know what is produced in that area, you have to group people together. We have 115,000 applications for adjudication, but we have to see who they are, where they are and how we group them, ”she said in a recent interview with Portafolio.
(You can read: They confirm the nullity of the integration process between Avianca and Viva: what’s next?).
First we have to be sure that it was not the land of the paramilitaries.
According to the National Land Agency (ANT), by 2023 the challenge is to formalize 1,500,000 hectares and advance in the reform with the delivery of 500,000 to people who do not have it or it is insufficient, for which the National Government tripled the budget of the agency.
“All that land is already under review, first we have to be sure that it was not land of the paramilitaries, that it is not vacant and that its acquisition was transparent. Then we must see if they are productive to define the prices”, explained the minister in the same interview.
Likewise, the official stated that, by the end of January, it is necessary to have a figure of land that can be bought, to request the budget.
Furthermore, he added that have titled 919,397 hectares throughout the country, for indigenous and Afro populations, among others. In terms of the Special Assets Society (SAE), there are already several farms for lease.
The process of formalizing these hectares has been done in four months and these lands correspond to 13 percent of the goal of the seven million hectares that are part of the commitments of the Peace Agreement.
(We suggest: Neighboring properties to road works would pay a whole tax for valuation).
“Of the 4 billion that they gave us to buy land, it is not enough for us except for a very small volume. Let’s see of those 58,000 they really met all the requirements. Additionally, we have problems buying land for La Mojana. We are evaluating the President’s offer to give land to the people who left Rosas, Cauca, but we are looking where, because we can’t find nearby land. Among other things, we must add that it is not subject to flooding, because we already know what happens in the Caribbean region,” López added.
“Simultaneously, progress has been made in the creation of four peasant reserve zones, benefiting more than 16,000 inhabitants, as follows: Sumapaz, with 22,765 hectares; Puerto Rico (Meta), with 33,694 hectares; La Macarena (Meta), with 163,906 hectares, and Santa Rosa (Cauca), with 176,000”, highlighted the official.
With the implementation of this figure, which recognizes the ordering and delimitation of the territory, priority attention will be provided to the residents who will receive the entire institutional offer of the State.
Twitter @AgenciaTierras
(You may be interested: Ecopetrol: Colombia will continue to need oil royalties and taxes).
‘It is impossible’
According to the minister, «if in total we manage to buy 500,000 a year (…) we are magicians.»
According to José Félix Lafaurie, executive president of Fedegán, the sector has handed over much more land than the almost 300,000 to which the Ministry of Agriculture refers.
«We have delivered many more, there are almost 500,000 and those that the portfolio talks about are only on the Caribbean coast and there are other areas where they are being offered,» he explained.
The livestock sector has 37 million hectares and is willing to sell three million
The operational and economic challenge in purchasing land is high since the Government has few or not as many as it would like, and those left by the past administration in the ANT are already available.
In addition to those that are in the process of extinction of domain or already with a sentence in the SAE.
(In addition: Exports: by oil, Colombia is the 3rd with the highest growth in the region).
Regarding the proposed goal, the union leader explained: “The Government has to formulate it, because there is land to buy and they are in a process in which they have not yet begun to acquire it. We hope that it will take place in the first half of 2023 and with a significant amount in order to be able to give a clearer message and comply expectations in the territories”, added Lafaurie.
«In effect, the truly comprehensive agrarian reform has different sources of acquisition of productive land and, thus, while we jointly develop the how of the agreement signed with Fedegán for direct purchase, the Government would do well to be concerned about the moment of the reform and in taking the first steps with the available lands, which do have a livestock vocation and, above all, if their new owners do. We will be willing to provide technical assistance and extension to the first sustainable livestock associative projects”, the manager stated on the union’s website.
The livestock sector has 37 million hectares of the 55 that are privately owned and is willing to sell three million according to the agreement with the Government. So far it has offered 275,000.
According to Lafaurie’s accounts, this is a very good amount to start the purchasing process.
Also, note that it is the Government that now has to decide who it buys from, at what price it buys from and where it buys from.
(Keep reading: The areas that appreciated the most in Bogotá, Medellín and the Caribbean in 2022).
In May 2020, the then director of the ANT, Myriam Martínez Cárdenas, announced that the Free Fund had reached one million hectares.although in the opinion of the president of Fedegán more than 740,000 were vacant.
The outgoing director of the SAE, Andrés Ávila, reported 450,000 rural hectares, but the current director, Daniel Rojas, referred to only 65,000. Lafaurie said that there is talk of only 33,000 that would be available from the ANT.
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