Agrarian reform: Government has only bought 1.6% of the land offered – Sectors – Economy

Either because the offered lands are not in the most productive areas, they do not pass the necessary controls or there is no cadastral information, the agrarian reform it goes slow. In fact, that delay was what caused the shadow of the expropriation a few months ago and what led to the Minister of Agriculture, Jhenifer Mojica, to confess that the goal of buying three million hectares is virtually impossible.

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In total, so far in government the people They have offered more than 1.6 million hectares nationwide. Of this total, a third comes from members of Fedegán, a cattle breeders’ union with which President Gustavo Petro made a direct purchase agreement.

They have offered a total of 541,472 hectares, and most of them are in the departments of Arauca (171,734) and Meta (130,221), and by far in Bolívar (40,377), Cesar (32,895), Vichada (31,963) and Madeleine (20,905).

The rest of the offers are given through social organizations such as the National Afro-Colombian Authority (Anafro) and the National Association of Peasant Users (Anuc), state entities such as the SAE and the Victim Reparation Fund, or through the hotline via WhatsApp.

The problem is that of the 1.6 million offered, there are only 25,700 hectares purchased so far, that is, only 1.6 percent of the offered land has passed the controls and the government seized it to distribute it in the middle of the agrarian reform.

“25,700 hectares of land have been purchased and we plan to acquire close to 40,000 additional hectares between now and August. With this, we would use all our purchase budget and the resources of the budget addition would be to increase the areas in the second half of the year”, said Minister Mojica.

There are several reasons that explain the government’s lag in purchasing the land offered. However, the main reason why the technical and legal feasibility controls are not passing is due to cadastral reasons.

“Half is being discarded because there is no information on polygons, and the other is because they are claimed for land restitution. In addition, there are others that we cannot buy because they are not productive or because they are in disaster areas and are subject to flooding,” said the minister.

Gerardo Vega, director of the National Land Agency (ANT)He also explained that some are not advancing due to appraisal issues, team organization and contracting of the companies that carry out the procedures.

Additionally, there is also a lag between when the ANT acquires the properties and they are distributed among the communities. “We still have to deliver approximately 30 percent of the land purchased in total,” Vega said.

Of this total, the Government has distributed to the ethnic communities. For example in Casanare, in Putumayo, in Huila and in Risaralda. And peasants from different departments of the country. Some of them are in Antioquia, Sucre, Caquetá, Bolívar and Norte de Santander, among other departments.

How is the proccess

The first thing that is done is to identify the property, either with the information of the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute (IGAC) or cadastral managers. In the event that it cannot be located in the databases, the owner is required to provide the information that allows it to be located. And if none of that is possible, the analysis of the property is finished.

The properties that are located by cadastre pass to a second phase of land restitution analysis. This is done by crossing spatial layers, taking as a source the layers arranged by the Special Administrative Unit for the Management of Restitution of Dispossessed Lands (URT). After that, the properties that did not submit the land restitution request are technically and legally analyzed to determine their viability.

In the first place, a legal analysis is carried out in which it is seen that the property is of a private legal nature, that it is clean, that the owner does not have a criminal record, that possession is in the hands of its owners and that the property is not have an agrarian process.

And later comes a technical analysis in which it is seen that it is not an urban property or that it complies with the environmental, agrarian and ecological provisions, according to indirect methods and available secondary sources.

Likewise, before proceeding to formalize the necessary documents for the purchase, owners and bidders are reviewed in the available restrictive lists and in the public deeds.

Alert for scams to peasants

The ANT He denounced yesterday that they are using his name to defraud those who offer state land in the midst of agrarian reform.

According to the entity, on July 4, it received audio recordings that revealed the existence of a criminal network of alleged fraudsters, who, taking advantage of the land purchase process, charged private owners money for the alleged sale of their properties.

The facts have already been denounced before the prosecutor on July 5, under the crimes of personal falsehood, slander and libel, conspiracy to commit a crime and fraud, contained in articles 296, 220, 221, 340 and 246 of the Colombian Penal Code.

So far this year, the ANT has made more than 7 public complaints for cases of alleged fraudsters, who use the name of the entity to deceive peasants. The cases have occurred in departments such as Bolívar, Sucre, Cesar, Risaralda, Santander, Tolima and Antioquia.