Agrologistics in the Colombian Caribbean: current situation, bottlenecks and business opportunities
Problem
With more than 80% of its people living in urban areas, Colombia needs to feed its ever-growing city populations. This necessity is partly explained by the increasing purchasing power of the middle class living in Colombian cities, which translates into preferences for more sustainably produced food. Equally important is the inclusive growth of the (often small) producers in the rural areas around these megacities, who play a key role in local food supply. There is a need to improve the productivity and quality of agricultural products. Moreover, in order to reduce the estimated 34% of food that is lost and/or wasted in Colombia (of which 62% is fruit and vegetables), there is a need to better connect farmers with the market and introduce better post-harvest technologies and agrologistics.
Solution
Resilience was commissioned, by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bogotá, to carry out a study analysing and presenting the current situation and the bottlenecks of the agrologistics sector in the five Caribbean departments of Colombia: Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira and Magdalena. The study also aimed to identify business opportunities for (Dutch) investors that could help improve the situation and solve the bottlenecks.
Impact
Specifically, the business cases identified are (1) mango processing, (2) organic cashew production and processing, (3) solutions for increased efficiency in small-scale productions, (4) organic waste transformation, (5) tertiary road improvements and (6) roadmap towards integrated transport and logistics between Colombia and Dutch Caribbean.
Bogotá, Colombia
Team members
Timeframe
2022
Tags