USAID is helping rural communities to obtain property titles and leverage investments in agricultural value chains.
For decades, rural communities in Colombia have faced challenges related to not owning the land they live on. The lack of secure tenure has consequences and keeps thousands of families from accessing government programs and subsidies that could improve their opportunities for success.
Without a registered property title, rural families can continue to cultivate their land and invest in their homes, but in the face of potential displacement due to a resurgence in violence, they lack the legal protection and risk losing their entire livelihood.
Carlos Romero is a farmer in the Montes de María region, whose land has never been formalized. A notarized receipt of payment is all he has to show that he is the land’s rightful owner. His whole life, Romero has grown ñame, a starchy yam-like tuber, as his main income and the means to raise his family. In fact, Romero credits ñame for the fact that three of his four children have finished school, and his son is currently at university. Despite the challenges, Romero has given them a promising future.
Land Ownership
In 2024, Carlos received the registered land title to his farm in San Jacinto, Bolívar, thanks to USAID’s support to increase land formality in rural areas affected by the conflict. In San Jacinto, experts surveyed 3,700 parcels and delivered some 1,100 cases to Colombia’s National Land Agency for titling. So far, the government has issued over 600 land titles to farmers like Romero.
“Now that we have our property title, we can cultivate with confidence. If you don’t have a land title, even the person who sold you the land can come and claim it as their own. But with a title you are safe from those problems,” says Romero.
USAID is using its expertise in land tenure programming and rural development to carry out 11 large-scale land formalization activities across the country, many of which have taken place in some of Colombia’s most complicated municipalities.
Small Business Owner
Secure land tenure is still just part of the larger picture to improve rural development. For Carlos, a property title means being able to peacefully cultivate yams, but it does not immediately make him a more successful farmer.
He is also part of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) that USAID helped to establish in the Montes de María region. The PPP, which is building on over seven years of strengthening the value chain, has allowed him to produce innovative products like Ñami Chips, which are thin, fried slices of ñame that are sold in the Caribbean region.
Romero has also learned and improved his production and processing techniques, met commercial partners, and received technical assistance directly at his farm.
Romero is no longer a subsistence farmer, he runs his own agribusiness. Now that he has a land title, Carlos is connected to the formal land market and can more easily access government subsidies like agriculture training and technical assistance from public entities and private partners.
Explaining Land Rights
Carlos Romero’s wife, Luz Dary, also benefits from the strategy, first by being included as landowner on the land title, but also thanks to the accompanying social outreach strategy to improve the understanding of women’s rights. The role of women as caregivers is just as important as the role of the men who work the land. In rural areas, women are almost exclusively responsible for caring for children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities; as well as for guaranteeing the food security of their families.
“My wife does not go to the field to work, but she supports me from our home. I am very happy that her name also appears on the land title. She is my partner and the mother of our children,” says Carlos.
USAID designed the Land for Prosperity Activity to improve land administration in rural areas of Colombia to create the foundation for a formal land market, and at the same time, strengthen key agriculture value chains to help those communities support their families and improve their quality of life. To capitalize on the entry of thousands of families into the formal land market, it is essential for public and private actors, including donors, to enhance agriculture skills, introduce new technologies, and make market linkages with the private sector.
