Deep Roots

[

] 133

represent about 40 per cent of the stratum of small farmers,

equivalent to around 100,000 farms. This group has signifi-

cant internal variation, since the value of farm production is

between US$5,000 and US$100,000 annually.

A major weakness of peasant family agriculture is the

limited ability of farming families to negotiate advantageously

with product markets, as well as with markets for inputs and

services. This is due to different reasons that operate as disad-

vantages over other agents, such as the scale of production,

information asymmetries, higher transaction costs per unit

of product traded, logistical constraints (collection, trans-

port, storage, packaging, value addition etc.), health and tax

informality, and the quality and suitability of its products.

Partnership is another important constraint: in 2013 a total

of 236 peasant cooperatives were registered in the ‘active and

valid’ category, which together congregate more than 5,000

members. This indicates that there is a big gap with the total

peasant farming population.

The Agricultural Development Institute (INDAP) is the

public agency responsible for supporting family farms in the

country, for which it has a budget of approximately US$400

million annually. This is applied in three main areas: tech-

nical assistance and training programmes; working capital

financing; and non-returnable subsidies for machinery,

infrastructure and other property taxes investments. From

an organizational standpoint, INDAP unfolds through 15

regional offices and 127 area agencies and offices, covering

the entire national territory. It has a staff of over 1,600 people,

complemented with 4,770 consultants hired by INDAP to

carry out direct technical assistance work with producers.

INDAP currently serves 167,500 farmers, implying a cover-

age of 65 per cent of the potential total.

INDAP promotes local economic development through

different instruments. One is the Local Development

Programme (PRODESAL), which primarily runs through

the municipalities. INDAP transfers resources through

a collaboration agreement, and these are complemented

by the implementing entities’ own resource provisions.

These resources must be spent on hiring consultants to

deliver ongoing technical assistance to the farmers in the

programme, which is organized into operating units of

between 60 and 180 farmers. Additionally, INDAP deliv-

ers resources for investment and working capital to the

peasant families, with amounts ranging between US$800

and US$2,000 annually.

INDAP has another similar programme for the indig-

enous world, the Indigenous Territorial Development

Program. This works in a similar way to PRODESAL, but

is more appropriate from a cultural standpoint. Finally,

INDAP has a contestable fund investment, the Investment

Development Program, which finances larger individual or

associative projects with a public subsidy of 90 per cent of

the value of each project. Amounts vary for each project

because each is analysed on its own merit. The funds could

be used to finance tractors or other machinery, irrigation

infrastructure, warehouses, fences, tourist equipment, solar

panels, fertilizers and many other types of investment.

Additionally, INDAP has complementary programmes

including lines of credit and project programmes that seek

to improve marketing.

Images INDAP

INDAP supports family farms in the country with technical assistance, training programmes and financing

eep

oots