The Plantain chain (Musa AAB) in Caldas: consolidated governance processes

Abstract

Plantain cultivation is of great importance for the country´s food security and sovereignty. In Colombia, about 87 % of the established area is associated crop and 13 % as monoculture; It is one of the subsectors that generates the highest income and employment, in 2022 960,000 direct and indirect jobs were reported. In the Caldas department, plantain is cultivated in all municipalities, its value chain, its main actors, flows, synergies, and governance spaces around this productive system were analyzed. For this purpose, a mapping of local actors was used with a Social Network Analysis, a description of the de facto banana value chain and it was analyzed under the Governance Analytical Framework. There is evidence of a productive system with well differentiated areas in terms of technological development, integration of chain links, articulation of institutions, organizational processes, access to national and international markets, and agro-industrial transformation processes. The articulation and cooperation between inter-institutional actors have been critical for development of collective actions to optimize resources, time, processes, and maximize the generated impact. The Caldas roundtables competitiveness emerge and position themselves as a consolidated space for territorial governance, which in turn catalyzes articulation dynamics and institutional interventions to enhance the resources of value chains and territories.

Keywords

• food systems
• integration
• market access
• networks
• organization