Reformas agrarias en Colombia. Políticas y Desafíos Institucionales para la nueva Administración
| Autor | David Fernando Varela Sánchez |
| Páginas | 219-246 |
Artículos
Rural Land Reforms in Colombia: Policy and Institutional Challenges for the new
Administration*
Reformas agrarias en Colombia: políticas y desafíos institucionales para la nueva administración
David Fernando Varela Sánchez a
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia
df.varelas@javeriana.edu.co
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9147-9808
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.vj138.rlrc
Redalyc: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=82559799012
Date received: 15 October 2016
Date accepted: 12 December 2018
Date published: 30 May 2019
Abstract:
e implementation of the provisions of the Final Peace Ac cord on land should have furnished an unprecedented opp ortunity
for Colombia to overcome traditional obstacles to the effective enforcement of reforms to secure land tenure, provide access to
vulnerable groups and realize the productive potential of the Colombian countryside. However, two years later achievements
in this eld are minimal. While most of the academic discussions are still focused on the tension between ide ological positions
about the extent of private property rights, this paper will look into some of the policy and institutional challenges faced by the
Administration that took office on August 2018. e lack of a strong land policy and institutional frameworks has limited the
impact of the implementation of previous reforms and may also impair the reforms pursued by the new Administration. e
challenges remain signicant and, as this paper asserts, unless they are properly addressed, the risk of another frustrated reform
will remain high.
Keywords: Land reform, land formalization, land information, land restitution, rural land, victims and land restitution law.
Resumen:
La implementación de las disposiciones del Acuerdo Final de Paz sobre tierras debió brindar una oportunidad sin precedentes para
que Colombia superara los obstáculos tradicionales a la vigencia efectiva de reformas que aseguren la tenencia de la tierra, faciliten
el acceso de grupos vulnerables, y materialicen el potencial productivo del campo colombiano. Sin embargo, dos años después
los logros son mínimos ; Mientras que la mayor parte de los debates académicos se han centrado en cuestiones ideo lógicas acerca
del alcance de los derechos de propiedad privada, este ensayo ab orda algunos desafíos de política e instituciones que enfrenta la
Administración que comenzó en Agosto de 2018. La f alta de marcos de política e institucionales fuertes ha afectado la ejecución
de reformas anteriores, y puede también afectar las reformas propuestas por la nueva Administración. Los desafíos siguen siendo
enormes y, como lo sostiene este ensayo, a menos que sean apropiadamente tratados, el riesgo de otra reforma frustrada seguirá
siendo alto.
Palabras clave: Información sobre tierras, formalización de tierras, Ley de víctimas y restitución de tierras, restitución de tierras,
reforma agraria, tierras rurales.
I. Introduction
A. Country economic and social context
Colombia has sustained solid economic growth over the past een years and remains one of the top
performers in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reg ion. Growth rates reached an average
of 4.8 percent during the 2004-2014 period well above the regional average (3.7 percent). Before 2014
growth was supported by favorable external conditions in terms of prices of exported commodities; prudent
Author notes:
a Corresponding author. Email: df.varelas@javeriana.edu.co
Vniversitas, 2019, no. 138, ISSN: 0041-9060 / 2011-1711
macroeconomic management, as well as some advances in structural reforms, also helped overall performance.
Aer that year the country has weathered successful ly the external shocks in spite of the fall in oil prices
resulted in a terms of trade impact of more than 3 percent of GDP and external demand for non-traditional
exports affected by the weak economic performance of regional trading partners. Over the 2015-2017 period,
economic growth has relented to an average of 2.3 percent, but it remains stronger than that of regional peers
and compares favorably with the average 0.5 percent contraction for LAC as a whole (See Figure 1). 1
FIGURE 1
Economic Growth in Colombia and LAC
Source: http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=2&country=COL
While the agricultural sector currently represents only 6 per cent of Colombia’s GDP and 16 per cent of
employment, the country’s agricultural potential is signicantly larger. O ver the last 25 years, the growth
rate of this sector has been only half the rate of the overall economy. Lack of adequate Government support
policies, and poor land use practices have been identied as the main causes of stagnation. Not surprisingly the
gains from growth over the past decade have not been equally distributed throughout Colombia as persistent
regional g aps remain intractable. Poverty rates vary largely across regions, from as high as 59.3 percent in
Chocó and 50.7 percent in Cauca to as low as 8 percent in Santander and 7.3 percent in Cundinamarca, both
highly urbanized departments. Extreme poverty in rural areas is over three times a s high as in urban areas,
and moderate poverty in rural areas is 50 percent higher than in urban areas (See Figure 2). 2
FIGURE 2
Poverty in Colombia
Source: https://www.dane.gov.co
Signicant differences persist in access to land and ba sic services. According to the National Household
Survey of 2015, the percentage of households in which at least one member is illiterate is more than three
times higher in rural areas than in urban ones; only 21 percent of people living in the countryside has nished
middle school. In terms of access to water, in urban areas 97 out of 100 people have access to drinking water,
while in rural areas only 74 out of 100 people do. Similar patterns exist with respect to sanitation: in urban
areas 85.2 percent of households have access to sanitation services, while in rural areas the gure is only 67.9
percent. Other social development indicators show that gaps in income and living conditions between rural
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