Interinstitutional networks in sustainable agricultural restructuration in Colombia

Abstract

The increasing degradation of natural resources, due to conventional agriculture in the Andean zone, forces to restructure agriculture towards sustainable agro ecosystems. In Colombia, people are worried about the negative effects of man-made actions on water, soils and biodiversity. Therefore, there are a large number of institutions working from different approaches to preserve these resources and to promote sustainable agriculture activities. However, in spite of the large amount of human resources, appropriate budgets and physical and virtual tools, they are not significantly contributing in the sustainable agricultural changes due to a complete lack of connections and of institutional networks. An exploration of this institutional system was made with emphasis in the Andean central region of Colombia. Weaknesses and opportunities were found. We believe that political support may allow the formulation of strategies that will contribute to the optimization of resources and research, constituting real innovation networks in order to promote the institutional contribution to the sustainable agricultural restructuring processes.