Colombian government agrees to buy land from ranchers

The pact between Fedegan and the government of change will guarantee three million hectares that will be purchased, of maximum fertility, destined for the peasantry.”

Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia

The president of the Colombian Federation of Cattlemen (Fedegan), José Félix Lafaurie, said that “cattlemen make history”, after the agreement reached with the Colombian Government for the purchase of 3 million hectares that its members have. But after the publication of the plan signed between both parties there are doubts about financing and land conditions that will apply for the transactions.

Today Fedegan says that ranchers have 38 million hectares for their activities, although based on the National Agricultural Survey, which concentrates the data for 2019, according to Dane, it can be seen that adding livestock activities it accumulates little more than 39 million hectares, it was also recorded that plus the extension of the forests (where there is legal and illicit production such as coca), agricultural crops and other uses; agriculture extends over 50 million hectares, that is, 43.8% of the national territory.

So, which land of that group that is in the hands of ranchers will be the one that they sell? The agreement specifies that the process must be “with fertile land, but in the understanding that the productivity of the land does not depend only on its fertility, that is, on its physical and agrological conditions, but on the adequate production conditions that are become ‘competitive advantages’, without which the clear comparative advantages of the country cannot be exploited”.

This means first of all, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Cecilia López, that they must be lands of high fertility, that they do not have problems for a crop to be prosperous, each property will be reviewed by the Agricultural Rural Planning Unit (UPRA), then of that technical evaluation will define if it is allowed for the agreement.

land without problems

Lafaurie explained that in the sector they are willing to reduce the amount of land on which livestock is spread through technology systems, “silvopastoral plans that allow for more livestock on smaller farms.” The signed agreement explained that there are conditions for the land that the State will buy.

That is why López also added that they are not just fertile land. The Ministry of Agriculture explained that “these are lands that do not have any type of legal problem, without legal action, we will not be suicidal to buy a land that will take us to jail.”

So they are land that cannot be in dispute before a court, nor should they be in the middle of a claim process.

Neither will land that is productive but has access problems or high difficulties in getting the products generated in that market enter the process.