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Colombia

Colombia: Food security - a concern for small farmers

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In the face of a possible global food crisis, the Government asserts that Colombia is shielded from food scarcity. But apart from the international situation, experts and small farmers consider that there are other factors that should be dealt with: the distribution of land, security that guarantees the right to life and permanence in the territory; development that ensures the right to education, healthcare and drinking water, and in addition, investment and loans for the production and marketing of their crops.

'Without food no lasting peace, democracy or development is possible,' declares the World Food Program. For this reason, when there is talk about the risk of a food crisis and the prices of corn, rice, wheat and cooking oil rise, food security has become a concern for small farmers.

At the international level, two situations have sounded the alarm regarding food secu-rity: the rise in the price of petroleum and an inadequate supply due to the increase in the demand for food, particularly in India and China.

Meanwhile in Colombia, where 13% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition and 10% weigh less than normal, the international situation could have an impact. Firstly, because if the prices of transport and inputs increase, it affects large-scale production and the importexport trade. Secondly, because this, in turn, raises the price of basic foodstuffs.

However, for the Government and experts on the subject, the international situation should not have such a marked impact. Firstly, because 'Colombia is shielded from food scarcity, since the country is 90% selfsufficient in what it consumes. Agricultural growth is the source of the shielding', says the Minister of Agriculture, Andrés Felipe Arias.

Secondly, because, as Professor Elcy Corrales, of Environmental and Rural Studies of the Universidad Javeriana, indicates, the small farm economy, which produces 63% of the country's food, can react to this situation with alternative forms of production and transport and has shown that it adapts to circumstances with agility. 'Since the production of the small farm economy is quite viable, it is important to strengthen it', she says.

For experts consulted, the international situation would be only one factor of risk because in reality there many others of a structural nature that should be dealt with. For this reason, in March, the Ministry of Agriculture and other Government bodies issued Conpes 113, which contains the national food security and nutrition policy with the aim of 'guaranteeing that the entire Colombian population has available, has access to and consumes food in a permanent and timely manner, in sufficient quantity, variety, quality and innocuousness'.