Southernjournalofagriculturaleconomics
December, 1970
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT EFFORT ASSESSMENT:
Thecolombiancase
James S. Plaxico*
Colombia, South America is one of the select
∞untries around the world which has been singled
out for intensive developmental inputs on the part of
public agencies and institutions, private enterprise
and the Foundations. Among the external agencies
currently involved in the Colombian development
effort are FAO, the Mid-American State University
Association (MASUA) administered by Nebraska, an
International Tropical Research Institute, the Harvard
Development Advisory Service, the Population Coun-
cil, the Ford, Kellogg and Rockefeller Foundations,
and various national development organizations,
including those of Sweden and France. Obviously,
with such a diversity of endeavor, consideration must
necessarily be limited to agriculture, with emphasis
bn the current Nebraska-MASUA consortion pro-
gram.
COUNTRY SETTING
The population of Colombia is approximately 20
million, with about one-half of the population being
rural and approximately one-half of the labor force
being employed in agriculture. The capital city,
Bogota, has a population of two million, and
Medellin and CaH each have a population of approxi-
mately one million. The population of the country is
growing approximately 3.5 percent per year, but the
three major cities are growing at a much faster rate as
a consequence of high birth rates and rapid rural
migration. It is generally conceded that the popula-
tion of the cities is growing much faster than employ-
ment opportunities [9]. Hence, this development has
been characterized as urbanization without indus-
trialization.
In 1967, per capita income in the country was
approximately $250, with urban residents receiving
approximately $350, compared to about $170 for
rural residents. Although per capita income has
apparently increased very little (approximately 10
percent) during the decade of the 1960’s, rural
incomes per capita have increased by approximately
the same absolute magnitude as have urban incomes.
Hence, the rate of income increase of rural residents
has been greater.
Data with respect to income distribution patterns
in Colombia are a bit obscure, but it is clear that
incomes are distributed in a very skewed manner and
it appears that the degree of skew is increasing over
time and that rural incomes are more skewed than
urban incomes [4]. Thus, personal incomes in Colom-
bia are probably diverging while the country average
is, to say the least, not gaining relative to developed
countries.
All indications suggest that the number of farmers
and the number of people engaged in agricultural
production will increase in Columbia for the foresee-
able future [9]. At the same time, the number of
opportunities in commercial agriculture will decline.
This paradox is, of course, occasioned by the fact
that there is no indication that nonfarm employment
opportunities will be created at a rate sufficient to
absorb projected new entrants into the labor force.
Hence, a large number of people will be forced to
retreat to or remain in the subsistence or poverty
Sectorsofagriculture.
Thecolombian
AGRICULTURAL ESTABLISHMENT
The competence of professional agricultural per-
sonnel in Colombia, particularly those in research,
was greatly strengthened during the past two decades
by Colombian as well as Foundation and other
support for graduate education, primarily in the USA.
In the mid-1960’s, after extensive and intensive
studies on the part of Colombian leadership, assisted
by USA consultants, the Colombian Agricultural
*James S. Plaxico is head, Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University.
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