Category Archives: Agriculture

Land grabbing in peri-urban spaces in Colombia

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This blog post was originally published in Spanish on the web platform LA. Network/ Este artículo fue publicado en castillano en la plataforma LA.Network.

 

A study reveals the subtle and ‘ordinary’ mechanisms of urban land grabbing in peri-urban spaces of small Colombian cities, and argues that policy incoherence and governance problematics drive land grabbing in peri-urban spaces.

 

We are not used to thinking of Colombian and Latin American cities as sites of land grabbing. We commonly associate the term land grabbing to the dispossession of locally owned or locally controlled land in rural spaces, at the advantage of large actors such as multinational companies and governments, which might appropriate land through the use of violence. Moreover, when we think about land grabbing in Colombia and Latin America, we usually associate it to large infrastructures, the extraction of natural resources, cash crop plantations, environmental conservation, and armed conflict. Land grabbing has generated environmental injustices, exacerbated social vulnerability and conflict, and generally disrupted the social fabric of local communities in Colombia and regionally.

Yet, land grabbing also occurs in urban areas, and especially at the urban border (peri-urban space), where urban expansion, agriculture and other land uses often clash in the name of diverging visions of development. Land grabbing in urban contexts is often more hidden, subtle and difficult to detect. Land grabbing in the city usually involved the appropriation of smaller areas of land at any one time, does not involve large, visible actors such as multinational companies, or national governments, nor does it necessarily occur under the use of armed force. For this reasons urban land grabbing has largely remained overlooked in Latin American cities.

A recent study conducted in the Colombian city of Sogamoso has brought some of those subtle and so far mostly hidden processes to light. In this city, urban expansionism, agriculture, mining and ecosystem conservation compete for the same, relatively small peri-urban space. Many peri-urban farmers have seen their land become unsuitable for farming as a result of mining practices that have damaged soil and water resources. Others face environmental conservation laws that essentially forbid most farming practices in ecologically valuable high-mountain páramo ecosystems that surround the city. Similarly, peri-urban farmers and residents have seen their land and property become too expensive or unsuitable for farming as a result of urban speculation and changing land use designation. In these cases farmers and residents have ended up unwillingly selling their land, which in many cases had depreciated, and/or have lost their livelihood. While land appropriation in peri-urban spaces is often of small scale, it is very impactful on the livelihoods of the citizens involved, who tend to be the already less powerful and politically unrepresented.

The study shows that the combination of incoherent policies and governance problematics is at the root of land use conflicts and land grabbing in the city’s peri-urban space. In Sogamoso, for instance, national mining and conservation legislation clashes with local planning (land classification). Local policies within or across sectors (for example: housing, agriculture, tourism) also often pursue incompatible goals (e.g. climate change mitigation and support for the extractive industries), or employ contradictory instruments (for example, regulations and incentives). This policy incoherence creates uncertainty about which piece of legislation, institutional actor, or interest group, will prevail and, consequently, it reinforces a generalized sense of injustice and distrust of the authorities. This situation generates social tensions which individuals and groups tend to resolve in ways that lie outside the democratic, transparent, deliberative governance system. The situation is compounded by the existence of various governance problematics: lack of reliable and up-to-date information (e.g. databases) on the state of the city, lack of technical capacity in the local governments, political short-termism, clientelism, and a poor civic participatory culture. This often results in more powerful, better organized or informed individuals and interest groups to acquire advantages, also in the form of land appropriation.

The case of Sogamoso may be unusual for the simultaneous convergence not only of urban expansion and agriculture, but of four distinct and to an extent incompatible land uses: urban expansionism, agriculture, ecosystem conservation and mining. But this case is not at all exceptional for what concerns the ‘ordinary’, subtle character of land appropriation, and the role of policy incoherence and governance problematics as factors of urban land grabbing in the region. In fact, it is rather illustrative of the pitfalls of territorial governance and policy incoherence which have been observed (albeit with some notable exceptions) in much of Colombia and Latin America.

Therefore, urban land grabbing should be on the agenda of policy-makers and civil society organizations alike as a serious issue to be tackled to support urban agriculture, and to reduce social conflict, injustice and vulnerability in the city.

 

The study cited in this article is a collaboration between the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading (United Kingdom), the Copernicus institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University (the Netherlands), and the Fundación Jischana Huitaca (Colombia). The study was funded by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) through the Environment and Sustainability Research Grant 2017/1. The study (in English) can requested via email at: g.feola@uu.nl or downloaded at this URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718519301654

Colaboración entre la Fundación Jischana Huitaca y la Universidad de Boyacá: gestión por la seguridad y soberanía alimentaria en el Municipio de Sogamoso

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Por: Laura Herrera Pisco y Katherin Ojeda Dueñas, Universidad de Boyacá – Sede Sogamoso.

Para el año 2014 la fundación Jischana Huitaca ha venido trabajado temas de la gestión por la seguridad y soberanía alimentaria en el Municipio de Sogamoso con las veredas de Dichavita, Morca y Pedregal bajo, donde se encuentran personas que sin importar la edad hablan del campo con alegría y entusiasmo puesto que es quien les ha permitido tener comida en la mesa y en algunos casos educación para los miembros de la familia, en el año 2017 nosotras Laura Herrera Pisco y Katherin Ojeda Dueñas como estudiantes de la Universidad de Boyacá- sede Sogamoso del programa Administración de empresas, con la colaboración de la Docente Lina Otálora Gómez tutora del área de Proyección Social de la universidad desarrollamos con los campesinos diferentes talleres y capacitaciones en patrimonio cultural los  cuales  permitieron compartir ideas, valores y un sinfín de historias de cuando muchos eran jóvenes y  solían disfrutar y trabajar  más en su campo bello, historias  que surgen de sus actividades de aporcar y sacar  la papa que un Martes a la madrugada bajarían a vender, y de paso, a comprar la manteca y la harina que podrían consumir durante algún tiempo, mientras la otra cosecha se podía recoger. Historias que cuentan de los niños que se ven felices corriendo hacia la escuela de la vereda que abre las puertas para brindarles nuevos conocimientos, y desde luego de aquellos que siguen en la lucha por vender la “papita” a los sogamoseños, pero una papa de calidad “sin tanto químico y con sabor de tierra” como lo dice Don Rafael junto a Don Gustavo, Don Patricio y Doña Esperanza con más de 90 años de edad.

Hemos realizado un estudio de mercadeo que ha permitido obtener conocimiento de la aceptación de la agricultura orgánica, el precio asequible para la comunidad, la cantidad adquirida y la presentación, además de las preferencias de hierbas aromáticas, hierbas condimentarías, tubérculos y verduras en la población sogamoseña, con el fin de lograr satisfacción en los clientes y menor desperdicio en la producción de las comunidades.

A través de las diferentes actividades realizadas para este estudio observamos cómo la gente que no trabaja en el campo también desea y añora tener comida saludable en su mesa, esperando no dañar su salud y contribuir al campesino de su tierra, que no tenga que invertir en químicos y transporte para llegar a la plaza muchas veces a regalar su trabajo o a engañar al cliente con productos de sabor a químico.

Por otro lado, hemos tenido un contacto cercano con los campesinos lo cual nos ha permitido valorar y apreciar nuestra  cultura agrícola  que ha crecido tanto en esta región; ha sido un trabajo único y que ha aportado grandes valores, no solo en el aspecto intelectual sino afectivo y humano, dejando una huella intachable en el corazón y en la vida tanto de  nosotras como de cada una de las personas que han venido trabajando este proyecto para lograr sus metas y el sueño de poder comer sin químicos  o mejor dicho “comer papita con sabor a tierra”.

Land-use conflicts and governance of peri-urban spaces in Sogamoso

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One of the defining characteristics of peri-urban spaces is their social, economic, cultural and environmental diversity (Lerner and Eakin, 2011). While urban and rural spaces, respectively, tend to be internally rather homogeneous, peri-urban spaces host different economic activities (e.g., agriculture, industry), and populations (e.g., long term settlers and more recent migrants often coming from rural spaces, with their respective cultural backgrounds). To govern such diverse peri-urban spaces is challenging because it is usually difficult to compose a broad and range of interests, knowledges and visions that can enter into conflict for land, resources, and political and/or social recognition.

This can be clearly seen in Sogamoso. The oriental slopes of Morcá, where agricultural production had traditionally flourished, are rich in minerals, coal and sands that are mined for use in the local metallurgic industry and the production of bricks for the growing construction sector.

Mining for coal and sand is drastically reducing the availability of fertile soil for agriculture.

Mining in this area is usually done at small to medium scale, yet its disrupting impacts on water systems, fertile soil and ecosystems in general is so dramatic that agriculture in this area has almost disappeared with the exception of home gardens.

Mining for coal and sand is drastically reducing the availability of fertile soil for agriculture.

 

A different type of land use conflict can be observed in Monquirá. This peri-urban area was traditionally a site of agricultural production and still retains part of this identity. However, the beauty of its landscape, and the reduced environmental contamination make this area attractive for the more affluent urban population seeking to move out of the urban centre, or to dispose of a holiday or weekend home. The purchase of land for residential development is made possible by recent changes in the planning regulations (which allow urban development what was formerly recognized as a suburban –mixed land-use- area), and by the concomitant rural crisis that pushes smallholders and peasants to leave agriculture to seek more remunerative and secure jobs in the city (Feola, 2017).

Residential homes (white, on the right hand side) have started to populate a traditionally agriculture oriented landscape.

While the influx of urban residents in Monquirá is not seen by everyone as a threat to agriculture, tensions exist over land acquisition for residential development, and the likely changes in the social fabric of the local community with possible social integration issues (see photo). This dynamic is similar to that observed in the peri-urban in the Chicamocha River valley south and west of Sogamoso, which is characterized by fertile soil. Differently from Monquirá, these areas are formally recognized in the latest planning regulations as ‘suburbano’, which allows mixed land-use. But, especially in the south, the residential development of upscale residential blocks and houses has effectively displaced agricultural activity.

Land-use is regulated mostly through the Municipality’s planning regulations that are formally developed in a participatory manner. However, actual participation of local communities in the decision-making process (rather than in the communications of decision taken by institutional and technical actors) seems to be patchy at best. Moreover, various actors seem to be able to exert economic and/or political pressure on the institutions to influence the development of the planning regulations, for example to extend the area susceptible of urban development at the expense of areas designated for rural uses. Key in the capacity to influence this decision-making process are financial resources, political connections, and collective organizations, none of which is characteristic of peasant and smallholders in the peri-urban spaces of Sogamoso. In addition, the local planning regulations appear to be superseded in places by, but not clearly coordinated with, national regulations, as it is the case of Mining Code. This contributes to reducing the capacity of farmers and other actors, including some social and environmental movements, to defend the space for agriculture in peri-urban areas of Sogamoso.