1. FARMING IN COLOMBIA ECONOMICAL ACTIVITIES

2.  Agriculture in Colombia refers to all agricultural activities, essential to food, feed, and fiber production, including all techniques for raising and processing livestock within the Republic of Colombia. The Colombian agricultural production has significant gaps in domestic and / or international human and animal sustenance needs.  The primary agricultural products of Colombia are coffee (fourth-largest producer of coffee in the world), cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables, fique, panela, forest products; and shrimp.  In Colombia the agricultural politics and policies are determined by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. FARMING IN COLOMBIA

3. COFFE  Coffee historically has been a major factor in the Colombian economy. Since the middle of the twentieth century, however, its relative importance has been decreasing, largely as a natural outcome of the country's development process.  The livelihoods of an estimated 566,000 families, some 2.3 million Colombians, depend entirely on coffee.  In 2003 coffee registered a price of US$0.60 per pound, its lowest price since 1821, because of the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement of 1989, the expansion of production in Vietnam, and the reallocation of production in Brazil toward the northern milder areas. Moreover, between 1999 and 2002 Colombia shifted from being the second-largest to the third-largest producer of coffee in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam.  Fedecafé launched the Juan Valdez coffee shops in Bogotá in 2002 and in the United States in 2004. By 2008 it had more than 70 stores, including at least 60 in Colombia, eight in the United States, and others in Spain and elsewhere in South America (Chile and Ecuador).Juan ValdezBogotáSpainChileEcuador  Through the Juan Valdez coffee shops, Colombia is trying to expand its involvement in coffee consumption, not limiting itself to selling coffee beans to be roasted abroad and later sold at the retail level, but rather attempting to capture part of the coffee retail market itself, where most of the profits are made. [1] [1]

4. FLOWERS  Cut-flower production represented 4.2 percent of agricultural GDP in Colombia in 2006, generating 94,000 direct jobs and 80,000 indirect jobs, and it is estimated that about 1 million Colombians depend on income generated by the growth of flowers. Women account for 60 percent of the workers in the flower industry, and their terms of employment are favorable in light of Colombia's overall labor markets.  Flowers are produced by 300 companies on 600 farms, 20 percent of which are owned by foreign investors, located mainly in the Bogotá savanna and the Rionegro region in the department of Antioquia. Most of the production consists of roses, carnations, mini-carnations, and chrysanthemums.

5. FLOWERS  Colombia has long been the second-largest cut-flower exporter in the world, behind the Netherlands, and continues to be the largest flower exporter to the United States. Colombia's flower exports in 2004 amounted to US$704 million, making flowers the country's second most valuable legal agricultural export, behind coffee and ahead of bananas and sugar. After the United States, which receives 82 percent of Colombia's flower exports, the second- largest market for Colombia's flowers is the European Union (EU),

6. BANANAS  Colombian bananas (excluding plantains) are another export success story, in this case despite the violence that has long affected the producing regions. Banana exports, which amounted to about US$525 million in 2006, are the third-largest legal agricultural export of the country, behind coffee and flowers.  The Urabá region in Antioquia and the northeast of Magdalena Department are the main areas producing bananas for export. Chiquita Brands International, Dole Food Company, and Del Monte Fresh Produce are among the most important banana- marketing companies in Colombia  Production for domestic consumption is not as sophisticated in technological terms as that for export markets. Producers and exporters are organized in several associations, of which the best known is the Association of Colombian Banana Producers (Asociación de Bananeros de Colombia, or Augura)

7. SUGAR  Sugar production, which represented 2.5 percent of agricultural GDP in 2004, is concentrated in Valle del Cauca Department and is based on sugarcane output.  About half of Colombia's sugar output is exported, one quarter is used for domestic consumption, and the rest is sold as an input to the industrial sector. Colombia is the seventh-largest exporter of raw sugar in the world and the fifth-largest exporter of refined sugar, with exports of US$369 million in 2006. The main export destinations for Colombian sugar are the Andean countries, the United States, and Russia

8. OTHER PRODUCTS  Other export products are cotton, cacao and rice. But these are only exported, when there is not any shortage in the internal supply. According to the general health awareness, tobacco is losing its importance as export product.  Cattle breeding depends on the climate zone as well. In the highland Friesian and Swiss brown cows are grazing, which are mainly bred for milk production. In the “hot” country only Zebus or animals obtained by crossbreeding with this race can be kept, as they are insensitive to the heat and more resistant to tropical diseases. Meat production is oriented to supply the internal market. Today exports to Germany cannot be considered, as the sanitary norms for slaughter houses, stipulated by the European Community, are not fulfilled.

9. ACTIVITY  Make a chart mentioning the main products and characteristics of each produced in Colombia.

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY  http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pymes/agrarian_sector.htm http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pymes/agrarian_sector.htm  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Colombia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Colombia  http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Colombia- AGRICULTURE.html http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/Colombia- AGRICULTURE.html  http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pymes/agrarian_sector.htm http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pymes/agrarian_sector.htm