International trade, agricultural economy and free trade agreements in the corn sector in Colombia

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to review the particularities of corn and its importance in the agricultural economy of families and the impact of Colombia's free trade agreements on its production. As a method this is a documentary research using diversified sources with analytical treatment, such as: statistical tables, newspapers, magazines, reports, official documents, books and company reports. The main findings indicated that maize production has increased over time as higher yields followed improvements in technology, seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and production practices such as reduced tillage, irrigation, crop rotation and pest control systems. Governments have often supported their agricultural systems by creating supports for farmers and rural communities. Most have protected farmers by imposing quotas, tariffs and other controls on imports so that their farmers do not have to compete with agricultural products at very low prices from other countries. This is generally true for agricultural products in undeveloped countries such as Colombia, where import quotas have affected from the small to the large producer, here strategies such as those mentioned from "Soy-Maize, Country Project", in figures according to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2022) and " Maize for Colombia 2030" from CIMMYT- CIAT (2019) are a common means of protecting agricultural commodities. Specifically, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) help expand foreign markets for producers and exporters by reducing trade barriers, fostering a more stable and transparent environment for trade and investment, protecting countries' economic interests, and improving the rule of law. To date, Colombia has 16 FTAs in force with countries that account for 43 percent of total agricultural exports to the world.