COLOMBIA

Abstract and Main Features

La política pública de agroecología – The National Public Policy on Agroecology of Colombia, in English – outlines a transformative framework to shift the country’s agricultural systems toward sustainability, equity, and resilience. Rooted in the knowledge and practices of rural, indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities, the policy seeks to address the socio-environmental impacts of industrial agriculture. It promotes agroecology as a holistic alternative that integrates ecological principles, cultural diversity, and food sovereignty. The policy also incorporates a gender-responsive and intersectional approach, recognizing differentiated roles, knowledge, and participation within agroecological systems. The document sets strategic guidelines for education, production, commercialization, and governance. Its importance lies in aligning national development with climate action, biodiversity conservation, and rural well-being. Ultimately, it aims to build territorial food systems that ensure the right to healthy, culturally appropriate food for all Colombians. 

Some of the main features of this policy include: 

• Integration of ancestral knowledge with technical innovation and scientific knowledge. 
• Alignment with international frameworks such as the Paris Agreement, Agenda 2030, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework etc. 
• Recognition of short value-chains as well as Non-Monetary and Solidarity Economies embracing economic models that are rooted in community values, reciprocity, and sustainability and that go beyond traditional market mechanisms.  
• Decolonizing approach that recognizes and encourages ancestral knowledge of the indigenous communities. 
• Legal recognition of agrobiodiversity as a Common Good. 

Objectives 

The overall objective of the Policy is to “promote agroecology and other forms of agriculture for life, with a view to building sustainable, resilient, and equitable territorial food systems that contribute to productive transformation, food sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, and the well-being of Colombian society.” 

The Policy has five specific objectives: 

1. Strengthen agroecological education, extension, and innovation processes in line with the social realities, knowledge, and expertise of local peoples and communities.  
2. Promote agroecology and agroecological transition in the country’s agricultural production systems and territories.  
3. Strengthen territorial processes for the distribution, exchange, marketing, and consumption of food and agroecological products.  
4. Contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, tropical agrobiodiversity, and biocultural systems as a strategy to address the climate crisis.  
5. Encourage the recognition, participation, and organization of groups in contexts of vulnerability and exclusion to enhance their capacities for human transformation with autonomy. 

Key Target Groups  

This National Public Policy on Agroecology adopts a strongly inclusive approach designed to address several key target groups, including:  

• Women: Through recognition of their leadership in agroecology, the pledge to promote actions to break down traditional stereotypes that foster gender gaps, and by securing women’s inclusion in food production and other ecological practices. 
• Youth: By providing support for youth-led agroecological initiatives, incentives for land access, innovation, and training.   
• People with disabilities: Through their general inclusion in the intersectional approach.  
• LGBT+ and other gender-diverse populations: By adopting an intersectional and gender-sensitive approach and recognizing non-hegemonic gender identities in agroecological processes. 

Expected Results 

Some of the outcomes the Policy is expected to deliver are the following: 

• Increased production and use of bio-inputs, organic fertilizers, and soil conditioners. 
• Development of technical, technological, and postgraduate programs in agroecology. 
• Strengthened community-based educational processes for knowledge management and Agroecology Farmer Schools (Escuelas Campesinas de Agroecología) 
• Development of short supply chains, community markets, and non-monetary exchange systems. 
• Use and marketing of native and creole seeds, and establishment of technical programs and legal mechanisms to protect them. 
• Launch an annual study on the state of agroecological processes in Colombia. 
• Extended adoption of renewable and appropriate energy technologies in rural agroecological systems. 
• Strengthened strategies to monitor and manage the risk of water and soil pollution. 
• Establish institutional mechanisms enabling communities and territorial authorities to autonomously declare Transgenic-Free Territories. 

Policy Development Process 

This Policy was developed through a participatory approach which involved both governmental bodies like the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as technical directorates, regional and local government, agroecological networks and platforms, academia and CSOs, placing this policy as a product of a bottom-up approach driven by grassroots actors.  

Ministries and Stakeholders Involved in the Process 

• Government authorities: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and the Agency for Rural Development. 
• Local and territorial authorities, cities. 
• Academia: National University of Colombia, Universidad de Nariño, Red IESAC. 
• CSOs: Campesino organizations; Indigenous organizations; Free Seeds Network of Colombia; Latin American and Caribbean Agroecological Movement (MAELA); National Family Farming Network (RENAF); Agroecological Markets Network; women’s and youth organizations; organizations of Black, Afro‑descendant, Raizal, and Palenquero communities; national social and agroecological networks, platforms, and organizations. 
• Market actors: Local agroecological markets, and farmer markets. 

Implementation 

The implementation of this policy is structured around four strategic lines of action, each with detailed initiatives and sub-actions such as education programs, bio-inputs production and biodiversity conservation. The responsibility for implementing these lines of action is shared among a governance system which is led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the support of CSOs, academia, and other affiliated entities. A special National Agroecology Roundtable will be established to plan the implementation of this policy while also serving as principal entity for the analysis and formulation of alternatives if needed in case of normative, technical or political issues.  

For the implementation of the policy, the National Agroecological Plan (PAN) was developed through a participatory process. The PAN prioritizes actions focused on agroecological training, the strengthening of solidarity-based economies, Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), and the protection of cultural identity and ancestral knowledge systems. 

Budget and Funding 

No estimated budget was publicly shared for the implementation of this Policy. 

Funding for the implementation of this policy is identified from some of the following resources: 

• Direct Allocations from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and its affiliated entities. 
• Rotational responsibility from territorial institutions to include agroecology governance structures in their financial planning. 
• Design of financial instruments to support agroecological economies and initiatives, including support for participatory guarantee systems (PGS), incentives for public procurement of agroecological products, mechanisms for markets access and commercialization.  

N.B. This document was reviewed by SWISSAID Colombia

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