WELCOME

The Andean Region, comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, is the most culturally and ethnically diverse area where IICA works. According to ECLAC,* the population of the region exceeds 121 million, of which some 20% is indigenous.

The region has undergone an accelerated urbanization process. As a result of heavy rural-urban migration, most of the countries have seen a shift from rural predominance to urban predominance. At the end of the last century, many countries recorded urbanization rates above 70%; e.g. Venezuela (87%), Colombia (75%) and Peru (72%).

Using traditional methods of calculation, it is estimated that approximately 23% of the population of the Andean Region is rural. The EAP of the region is estimated to be 50 million,** of which some 28 million are involved in agriculture and related activities.

Migration has a great impact on the development of countries, and rural areas in particular, where the conditions that promote migration are often present. There is a problem of depopulation and the aging of the population, leading to a worsening of the initial conditions and, in the case of agriculture, the increased feminization of agriculture; however, those who leave may in time contribute human/physical capital, entrepreneurship and new technologies. There is also a flow of resources that the immigrants contribute to their families and which can promote the development of the zone, which at present total some 5 billion in Colombia and 3 billion in Ecuador.

Many of the countries of the Andean Region are located in the tropics, where most of the agroecological environments that provide resources are found. It is believed that the countries of the region are endowed with great biodiversity, good soil, sources of water and micro-climates of all types.

Agriculture is the principal activity in most of the countries of the Andean Region, where it makes an important contribution to GDP in these countries; however, projections call for the sector to grow less than other economic sectors of the continent and the world.

The importance of agriculture in the economies of the Andean Region varies: Ecuador 27%, Bolivia 23%, Colombia 18%, Peru 16% and Venezuela 2%. Agricultural exports, as part of total exports, account for 45% in Ecuador, 30% in Bolivia, 23% in Colombia, 21% in Peru and 1% in Venezuela, for a regional average of 24%.

There is an uneven effort to modernize agriculture despite the comparative and competitive advantages afforded by the mega-diversity of the tropics and to provide the basic products needed for food security and sovereignty and the opportunities provided by the market niches for the demands of the international fruits, grains, roots and tubers markets and the new demands for food even though there are some important problems such as the deterioration of natural resources, water, soil and biodiversity.

*ECLAC: Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2003
** CELADE: Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre