STiR coffee and tea magazine

46 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 5, 2018 (October / November) By Bethany Haye CAUCA, Colombia Colombia approved legislation regulating the return of land forcibly taken from those who owned or had cultivated it for generations long before the Colombian government and rebel insurgents known as FARC signed a peace agreement in November 2016. The Land Restitution Law was a major step, considering that Colombia has the second-highest rate of internally displaced people in the world. The law aims to help almost six million people (13% of the population) to finally go home. Among them are roughly 100,000 coffee growers, forced off their land by rebel groups and drug cartels. The main coffee regions of the country stand to gain substantially from land restitution. But, seven years on, implementing the law has proved excruciatingly slow. So slow that one official contacted by STiR coffee and tea said that applicants whose cases have been positively assessed, but who face long waits for the official stamp of approval, are being allowed to re-take possession without title. Since the law passed, only 106,833 land restitution applications have been filed, about one- third of the number expected. Of the 50,000 cases reviewed by courts, 20,000 have been denied, 3,000 were granted title, and 27,000 are still waiting for a decision. Significantly, of the 3,000 land titles delivered, a mere 488 titles, or 16% of the total, are for coffee cultivation. There are legitimate reasons for this. With little government presence in rural areas and a past built on unregulated homesteading, 6 in 10 farmers do not hold formal documentation for their land. Many don't apply for that reason, or because they worry about reprisals if they do manage to get their farms back. As of August 2017, at least 72 land restitution claimants have been mur- dered, and thousands more have received death threats. In some cases, under threat of violence, the displaced are forced to flee their homes a second time because of their involvement in the restitution process. Terms of the peace agreement allocate COL$8 million ($2,650) for each former combatant provided they submit a project demonstrating how they plan to use the money. Few in coffee have done so. Land restitution is an administrative nightmare as 14,000 decommissioned rebels seek social and economic integration. Reclaiming the men just may be more immediately do-able than reclaiming the land. Getting to Normal Illycaffè Supports Coffee Cultivation in Post-conflict Colombia Colombia is relocating six million residents displaced during decades of insurrection Illycaffè post-conflict coffee

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