The institutionalization of family farming in Colombia

The signing of the peace treaty between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP in November 2016 commits to an integral rural reform that aims to: "lay the foundations for the structural transformation of the countryside and create conditions of well-being for the rural population so as to contribute to the construction of a stable and lasting peace" (Peace Accords, 2016) Within this framework, the category of "Family Farming" is promoted as a sustainable agricultural production system, through its contribution to economic development, poverty eradication and food security in the country. However, the fragility of this family form of production (poverty, abandonment, lack of infrastructure) requires a determined public action that characterizes it, differentiates it and positions it in relation to the conventional agro-industrial model. In Colombia, family farming brings together a great diversity of agents: peasants, indigenous people and Afro-Colombians among others. All of them are characterized by the reappropriation of the term "family farming", both in its meaning and in its political character, going beyond the strict agronomic and technical vision of rural development.