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Impact of the US-Colombia FTA on the small farm economy in Colombia
This in-depth economic study assesses
the potential effect of agricultural provisions in the US-Colombia FTA
on Colombia’s small-scale farmers using data from official and reputable
sources to carry out a comparative statics analysis. It concludes that
a significant number of small farm households would see substantial
drops in their income as a result of the FTA. This would result in a
deeper vulnerability for a population that has already been
disproportionally affected by Colombia's internal conflict.
This
FTA would force Colombian agricultural products to compete without any
protection against US subsidized commodities. As a result, according to
this study, Colombia’s 1.8 million small farmers would see their
net agricultural income fall by over 16 percent on average. The damage
would be concentrated among nearly 400,000 small farmers, most of whom
now earn less than the minimum wage but who would lose between 48 and 70
percent of their income. If 400,000 small farmers, who on average have
less than five years of formal education, lose their livelihoods, their
employment options will be limited. They are likely to take up coca
cultivation, engross the files of illegal armed groups, or migrate to
urban areas to join some 5 million Colombians
– over 10 percent of Colombia’s total population - forcibly displaced
from the countryside over the last 12 years, the great majority of whom
live in extreme poverty.