A USAID partnership is enabling the Colombian Government to move forward with its commitments to formalize land and reduce illicit crops.
With USAID support, Colombia’s National Land Agency delivered 83 land titles to families who have voluntarily substituted illicit crops in the municipality of Cáceres, Antioquia. The property titles correspond to over 1,200 hectares of rural land in the heart of Bajo Cauca, a zone affected by years of violence and narcotrafficking.
The land titles were delivered this year during the visit of US Director of National Drug Control Policy, Dr. Rahul Gupta. Before meeting landowners who have substituted illicit crops in exchange for land titles, Gupta joined government officials and the US Ambassador to Colombia, Francisco Palmieri, to fly over the region and see how illicit crop cultivation and illegal mining have affected the area.
“I want to express congratulations to these families who became proud owners of their land parcels. The families here today deserve to own their land in order to work on it and build a life where they can leave illicit crops behind. This is proof that rural development works, and should continue to be part of our holistic strategy.”
Transformation in Rural Colombia
Secure land tenure is the backbone of an innovative strategy aligned with Colombia’s new drug policy to encourage the voluntary substitution of illicit crops in exchange for land titling and a package of targeted support that includes food security provisions and investments in agriculture and infrastructure projects to promote territorial transformation.
Helping rural communities replace illicit crops with legal alternatives, increasing rural development, and supporting their transition to participate in formal markets instead of depending on illicit economies, is a pillar of Colombia’s new drug policy.
“It is a pleasure that finally a drug policy is not only about security, right? It is also about access to land and the vindication of the rights of our campesinos.” says Gloria Miranda, Director of Colombia’s coca substitution program
The Colombian government has already delivered over 600 land titles in Cáceres, and 150 of those are in the names of families who once grew illicit crops. Thanks to USAID support, the government is poised to deliver more than 1,300 land titles over the next year in Cáceres.
Securing Land Rights
The increase in legal land ownership is the direct result of the implementation of rural property and land use plans, known by their Spanish acronym, POSPR. In Cáceres, implementation took place over 18 months and surveyed more than 5,600 rural parcels. The POSPR efforts coordinated with the Colombian government to successfully clear landmines from over 100,000 hectares of the north of the municipality, updated the Cáceres’ rural and urban cadaster, and strengthened the presence of a Municipal Land Office.
The success of the approach hinges on the support of municipal leaders and the communities, including hundreds of social leaders whose local knowledge is fundamental. These social leaders ensure women are active participants in the process, and the National Land Agency ensures women’s land rights are recognized by issuing joint land titles for properties owned by two people.
Since 2020, USAID is supporting the National Land Agency with POSPR implementation in 11 municipalities across Colombia. In five of those municipalities, there is a presence of illicit crops, as well as minefields and illegal armed groups.
“What we are achieving in Caceres, we must achieve throughout the country so that the farmers have the peace of mind that they have a plot of land for their children,
– Felipe Harman, Director of the National Land Agency
To complement the rural land formalization initiative in Cáceres, government entities like the Ministry of Justice are partnering with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide food security relief and mobilize funds for key infrastructure projects, such as bridges.
“Cultivating life is access to land, it is an agrarian reform, it means the person who has depended on growing coca can have a dignified life, a sustainable life project that allows them to have access and not be subjected to violence,” says Gloria.