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Andean Group - September 2015 (ISSN 1741-4466)

RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Land reform - the big challenge for Colombia

Colombia Magia Salvaje, a nature documentary that showcases the country’s flora and fauna across an array of spectacular scenery, is sitting comfortably at the top of the box office list. However, while the Colombian countryside may be a great place to visit, you wouldn’t want to live there. The country’s first rural census in 45 years describes a countryside that is undeveloped, uneducated, poor and ageing. The results were worse than many had expected. On receiving the report in August President Juan Manuel Santos said that there was “everything still to do in the countryside.” With land reform one of the key negotiating points in the peace talks with the Fuerzas Armados Revolucionarios de Colombia (Farc), the census provides a crucial insight into the scale of the problems facing post-conflict agricultural policy.

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