Rural reform: Government ready to purchase land, according to Cecilia López – Sectors – Economy

And the rest would pay?

Yes, the rest could receive it, but they would have to pay. From 50 to 700 minimum wages (limit to be subject to reform) how much we are going to charge will be regulated.

What have you found so far?

That all the demand for land is being concentrated in the Caribbean region and the Magdalena Medio. The problem is that most of the offer is not there. In total, we have 1.7 million hectares offered. We have received some 284,000 from Fedegán, of which some 54,000 would be suitable throughout the country. However, there are only 3,563 in that area that meet the requirements of being productive and not linked to the conflict, among others. And this figure could rise to about 5,000. We are in a filter process.

So they would expect the ranchers to offer them more land in the north?

Yes, the goal is to take productive and underutilized land. Most of it is in the Caribbean region and in Magdalena Medio. That is what we expect. The one that they have offered us in the Altillanura and the south of the country it is impossible to make a reform because it is very expensive. What is interesting is that the demand is concentrated where we believe the focus of the agreement with Fedegán is.

(You can read: The formula so that the country’s economy does not slow down so strongly).

Do you plan to quickly deliver those 5,000 hectares suitable for ranchers?

A small cadastre stage is missing, but in principle we will see those lands soon. However, the first ones that we are going to distribute are from individuals. In the next two or three weeks We are going to buy 25 properties that represent 3,600 hectares in the Caribbean, Cauca and Chocó.

How much will they co-star?

At the moment we hand over the land we will say. It is better to wait so as not to affect. We have to be careful.

And then would the other deliveries come?

Yes, we are preparing for that, but at the moment the supply is well below the demand. I hope that this first purchase will be a stimulus for the offer to increase

What would you say are the biggest drawbacks you have encountered?

The limitation has not been silver, but one less offer on the right sites that meets the requirements. I am convinced that when Fedegán sees that we begin to buy land that does not belong to them, they will offer us more. In addition to this, there is the cadastre brake. we have to speed it up. On the first of March, a mission of Korean experts arrives to advise us.

Jorge Iván González says that the goal of the National Development Plan is no longer to deliver 3 million hectares but about 400,000. What is your projection?

I have to stay on target. I am in the middle, between the president’s pressure to reach 3 million hectares and the realism of planning. Now, the reality is that the country has never delivered at that speed. We are making a huge effort, for now we are ready to start buying.

But González thinks that even 400,000 in four years is an ambitious goal…

I agree with him that it would be a feat, but I also have pressure from the president that it is not enough. I don’t want to commit myself, that’s why I want to start now, to see what happens. The important thing was that we had the right operating apparatus.

He says it’s not about money. Are the reform resources already secured?

We are currently buying it with money from the regular budget, plus two additions. The problem is not money, but an offer that is dynamized and a cadastre that is accelerated.

Will they receive money from the cooperation?

Not for the purchase of land, what the credit and technical cooperation institutions will finance us are the productive projects that will allow us to adapt the properties, establish the basic instruments and give credit. There what we have to see is how easy it is to integrate the groups into modern production.

The reform is not only about buying land, what progress has been made in titling or in the delivery of the properties of the Special Assets Society (SAE)?

The reform has several instruments. In titling we are doing very well, we are already at a million titled lands. And we have done that at great speed and it changes the lives of the producers, because they become legal. In addition, there are the lands of the SAE, which will be obtained to deliver. The third thing is the purchase that we can finally start and there is also the issue of vacant lots, We are waiting for the sentence to reach us. In addition, there are peasant reserve areas.

How is it determined that a land is productive or not?

The Upra tells us how productive it is and what is worth stimulating in each part. We have 3 objectives: food security; import substitution because last year’s inflation is explained in a very high proportion by the corn, wheat and soybeans that entered, and encourage exports. We need to make a substitution to move to the energy transitionthat we can substitute the currencies that produce oil and there we have products such as the Hass avocado, the Tahiti lemon, fruits, etc. In addition to this, there is the traditional such as coffee, bananas, flowers…

Once delivered, are you going to measure that they are productive?

Yes, that is a sin that Colombia has committed. And I tell you that I have been a long time. It is that we are not used to doing an impact evaluation. We are going to introduce tracking from the beginning.

In recent days, there have been new cases of violence in the North of Cauca. What is the plan in this territory?

There is a fundamental element here and it is that the core of the crisis there is land. And there we are talking with the sugar mills because the first proposal they made to me was not along that line. I’m waiting for a new one.

Did you ask them to hand over land like Fedegán is doing?

I cannot say what the proposal consists of, but the idea is that they do have to recognize that everyone has to put in here: indigenous people, peasants, Afro-descendants, sugar mills. Let’s see who puts what, since land is a substantive element for peace.

But then if he is talking about land?

What I am waiting for is a generous offer of land and resources, I don’t know if it will arrive. The mills also have to buy peace and this also implies efforts. Everyone has to put in and the conflict has to go down. Something we said from day one is that it is impossible to do anything if the conflict continues. If the conflict does not go down, we will not be able to do anything. We are in that process.

Why didn’t that first proposal come to fruition?

They are not clear. I think they have to do something because the conflict is coming out. They are also protected. But the president has been clear, if one flies throughout the Valle del Cauca and Cauca in the most productive area you can see nothing but cane and although they allege that they produce a lot of food, in that area there must be, this has been a clear request from the indigenous and Afro-descendants, that there be areas where food can be grown again. I’m waiting for a meeting with them.

Last year a dialogue table was installed. What progress has been made?

The councilor of the regions and the vice-president have also worked on it. Our role there is land. I know that a significant swath of land is needed there to produce food.

Have you received an offer of land in that area?

We have some voluntary offers from people with 300 hectares that they want to sell or even from large farms. We are evaluating them.

Invasions did not stop months ago. How is the situation now?

I was very clear from the beginning saying that the agrarian reform should not be depleted of oxygen. I think that message stuck. Of course we continue with outbreaks; However, the pressure has already dropped, That’s why I’m eager to start buying to show that this is a reality. That’s why I want to start buying land now.

Another issue in recent days is the health reform presented by the Government. Did you recount your experience in Social Security?

I felt obliged to tell it. Now, if it works or not, Congress will decide, I did what I could. He spoke as Alejandro (Gaviria) and José Antonio (Ocampo) have done. We did our part. What I said was to show my experience, which was quite complex. On the one hand, having managed Social Security and on the other, having opposed Law 100 and having fought for the health care reform that we have today.

Isn’t the capitalization of the new EPS like reviving Social Security?

They will see if that is what is going to happen or not. I have to close the chapter, I already told my experience.

And what did he tell them about what he suffered at that time?

The bad thing was concentrating too much on a single institution and the political management that was given to health, that is a red light that I will continue to say. I know that corruption also occurs in Bogotá, but from my experience what has been most decentralized is corruption. The people who run our regional headquarters have to be very capable and not have political commitments.

What cases of corruption touch you?

Atlántico had spent the year’s budget in two months and that is just one of the innumerable corruption messes when it was released to the regions. Now, not all politics is like that. It is true that there are very good people, but you have to be very careful with the people who are going to manage the resources.

Are there aspects of the reform that do seem good to you?

I think there are positive things. The country was in arrears to have preventive health, that’s wonderful. I also agree that the EPS needs adjustments, but one feels that after having lived those experiences, one has to turn on red light bulbs.

NOELIA CIGÜENZA RIAÑO
Economy and business
On Twitter: @noe_cig