The country’s ranchers unionized in Fedegán let the Government of Gustavo Petro that the offer of land for sale is already at 400,000 hectares, an offer derived from the agreement signed with the current administration, which, in addition, is the result of the promotional work carried out by said union.
(Also read: ‘We are ready to start buying land’: Cecilia López’)
In this way, the ranchers responded to the Colombian president, who referred yesterday to the progress of the Agreement for the sale of land for the Agrarian reform. «Fedegán does not sign an agreement to not comply with it,» said José Félix Lafaurie Rivera, spokesman for the ranchers, who also referred precisely to the offer of land that they have made to the Government and to which they expect a response, warning that for said purchase there may be difficulties in the acquisition process.
«The president can continue to count on the certainty of our commitment, because the ranchers are complying and we will continue to comply,» insisted the union leader.
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Although Jorge Iván González, Director of National Planning, He says that the goal of the National Development Plan is no longer to deliver 3 million hectares but about 400,000, it is an ambitious goal. Cecilia López Montaño, Minister of Agriculture, insists that she remains attached to the goal set by the Government of 3 million hectares.
The agreement, however, recalled Lafaurie Rivera, goes beyond the sale and redistribution of land, because «as has been reiterated and is expressed in the Agreement, a property title does not lift anyone out of poverty, if that property is not surrounded by the conditions to make it truly productive and generate income and well-being for the beneficiary of agrarian reform».
The union leader recalled that through the Federation they have already received and processed before the National Land Agency502 offers for a total of 303,964 hectares, which are in the feasibility qualification processes in that entity.
He also indicated that this Thursday, February 23, together with the National Land Agency, they will be in Montería inviting ranchers to join the Agreement with sales offers in this area of the humid lowland tropics, and they will do the same in Valledupar and in the Magdalena Medio.
«Things have a start, and it is not an easy process, but ranchers will continue to comply, in a joint effort with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Land Agency,» Lafaurie Rivera pointed out.
Faced with the obstacles to the acquisition of these properties, López Montaño, in an interview with TIME published last Sunday, said: «The limitation has not been money, but one less offer in the right places that meets the requirements. I am convinced that when Fedegán sees that we begin to buy land that does not belong to them , they offer us more. In addition to this, there is the brake on the cadastre. We have to speed it up. On March 1st, a mission of Korean experts will arrive to advise us.»
