Background

Despite its status as a middle-income country, with significant levels of food production and a developing economy, millions of households in Colombia are at a high risk of food insecurity and poverty. Almost half of the country’s 45.7 million people live in poverty, with 6 million currently facing extreme poverty. Specific regions and ethnic groups are particularly vulnerable, reflecting high levels of inequality across the country.

Those most affected by poverty and food insecurity are indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, internally displaced person (IDP) and isolated rural communities, who struggle to access food supplies, have a low purchasing power, and face constraints related to transporting food owing to the country’s geography.

Colombia is estimated to second only to Sudan in terms of the number of IDPs living in the country, with up to 3.5 million people believed to be displaced. Poverty and vulnerability are exacerbated by the security situation, with violence commonplace in some areas as a result of homicides, kidnappings, the use of landmines and the presence of child soldiers.

The country is also prone to natural disasters and hazards linked to climate change. In 2010 alone, over 2.2 million people were affected by floods, landslides and storms, and over 1.3 million hectares of crops and pasture were damaged. Those hardest hit by these are overwhelmingly the most impoverished and vulnerable households, who lose everything in a disaster.

FAO’s emergency interventions in Colombia

In 2008, the FAO Representation in Colombia set up and Emergency Rehabilitation and Coordination Unit (ERCU) to support the communities facing food insecurity as a result of violence and natural disasters. Since then, FAO has implemented basic food security interventions in urban and rural areas of Bolivar, Sucre, Córdoba, Antioquia, Nariño, Cauca, Cundinamarca and Chocó departments. To-date, about 22 400 families (112 500 individuals) have benefited from these activities, the majority of whom were women. FAO’s food security and nutrition projects seek to restore the productive capacity of households and thereby improve their access to food and diversify their diets. Through its ERCU, FAO works in collaboration with national and international Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and local community-based organizations.

The main objectives of FAO’s emergency and rehabilitation programme in Colombia are to:

• reduce vulnerability among displaced and at-risk populations through building their agriculture- based livelihoods in order to lessen their dependence on food aid and strengthen their food production capacity and self-confidence;
• support vulnerable communities living in areas affected by recurrent natural disasters by promoting community disaster risk management and early warning systems, including providing assistance for improved agriculture and fisheries production in flood-prone areas; and
• through longer-term interventions, support the sustainability of emergency activities by developing the capacity of local, regional and national authorities and vulnerable communities.

In June 2010, an inter-cluster coordination mission was fielded to review the country’s cluster architecture, identify strengths and gaps in implementing the reform, and provide recommendations on the way forward. A number of recommendations were presented, with a road map, to assist in improving the performance of humanitarian actors in Colombia and enhance the planning and delivery of interventions. Among these was the creation of a joint FAO-World Food Programme Cluster on Food Security and Nutrition. At present, FAO co-leads the Food Security and Nutrition Cluster in Colombia.