Government and FARC negotiators reveal parts of signed agrarian reform

[Judi Lynn]

Government and FARC negotiators reveal parts of signed agrarian reform
posted by Jim Glade
Jun 21, 2013

Nearly a month after government and FARC negotiators announced they had come to an agreement on agrarian reform – the first of five objectives the warring parties will discuss before a final peace agreement is signed – negotiators in Havana, Cuba on Friday provided a glimpse into some of the agreed-upon proposals.

In a press release from the negotiating table in Havana dated June 21, the government negotiators and their rebel counterparts provided more detail about the agrarian reform agreement that was signed on May 26, 2013 – an agreement that negotiators are quick to stress will not take effect until the overall peace deal has been signed.

According to the press release, the agreement – which focuses on a regional rather than national approach to Colombia’s rural population, small landowners and peasant farmers – will set up a system of “Land Funds” in order to provide free land to landless peasants or those with insufficient land. The fund will be financed by lands that have been illegally or improperly attained and have been seized by the State. The government will also have a say in how the land is used, taking into account the vocational skills of the peasant owner, the general community consensus and other factors, according to the press release.

The negotiators said they realize that simply providing land to the rural poor is not sufficient and state that the agreed upon plan will also provide poor farmers with means to farm such as seeds, irrigation, technical assistance, housing, crop insurance and lines of credit. In addition, the press release mentions a system for marketing products from the peasant community, although it does not go into more detail about how this will be accomplished.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/dnp-farc-gov/

[Socialistlemur]

1. They need secure roads to town markets

In countries where there's a lot of crime and roads are almost nonexistent the small farmer has a terrible time getting produce to market and achieving a good price. I don't know where this land is located but they do need to start building roads and beefed up security along the routes. Otherwise it's going to yield nothing...those small farmers will lack the money to survive.

In the llanos they may have areas to cultivate sugar cane and make biofuels, but the plants will have to be connected by pipelines carrying ethanol. They can probably shift over like Brazil did to a gasoline/ethanol blend and this will provide a national market.

Another good idea would be to legalize pot. There's too much effort spent chasing harmless traders.

But in the long term it still boils down to a lot of security and a really sound road network. Eventually they need to develop hydropower and a distribution grid that's worth the name, but this can't be done if they have FARC, ELN and druglords running all over the place. If I were the government I would start planning on a national police force with at least 300 thousand members, armed but trained to handle civilian relations and respect human rights.