Food not only satisfies a basic need but also reflects cultural, economic, and sustainability aspects. From the farm to the table, every bite we take is influenced by a complex network of factors, ranging from agricultural practices to policy decisions.
To analyze these interrelationships within the framework of the CGIAR initiative National Policies and Strategies (NPS), there arises the need to better understand the environment surrounding the formulation of public policies related to food systems in Colombia. This is why the research team of the initiative posed the following question:
“How coherent are the policies of agri-food systems in Colombia?”
This question gave rise to the creation of the country’s first food systems monitoring platform: PlaSA Colombia. This tool aims to track the activities, processes, actors, and institutions involved in ensuring that food reaches consumers efficiently and safely from its place of origin to the table. The PlaSA website contains graphics that allow visualizing the data and results of the research carried out by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT in a collaborative process involving universities, institutions, and other stakeholders.
Framed within a multidisciplinary and interinstitutional collaboration, this tool is key for a better understanding of the complete panorama of food policies in Colombia.
One of the highlighted interactive dashboards provided by PlaSA is the policy coherence analysis dashboard, which includes the most relevant points of the study conducted by the Research Center on Agri-food Systems at the University of Los Andes, supported by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The research assessed whether the objectives and implementation of these policies are consistent, meaning they are aligned with each other externally and with their own goals, instruments, and target population internally. Furthermore, it is possible to observe progress in achieving the goals of some of the policies that impact agri-food systems in Colombia, including:
- National Plan for the Promotion of Marketing of Peasant, Family, and Community Economy Production.
- National Land Adaptation Policy
- National Productive Development Policy
- National Food and Nutritional Security Policy
- National Policy to Boost Agricultural Competitiveness
Dashboard link: https://plasacolombia.com/politicas-publicas-de-los-sistemas-agroalimentarios/
By the end of 2023, this initiative will present a report that expands its coherence analysis, encompassing not only the food sector but also the water and land sectors in Colombia. This analysis will offer a comprehensive view of the synergies and obstacles between the sectors involved in policy formulation and implementation, thereby allowing the formulation of policy recommendations aimed at improving the country’s agri-food system.
Authors:
Alexander Buritica Casanova, Senior Research Associate, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.
Karoll Valentina Yomayuza, Research Associate, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.
Daniela Salas Betancourt, Country communicator, CGIAR NPS initiative, and Analyst, Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.
This work is part of the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS). CGIAR launched NPS with national and international partners to build policy coherence, respond to policy demands and crises, and integrate policy tools at national and subnational levels in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CGIAR centers participating in NPS are The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Potato Center (CIP), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and WorldFish. We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.
