Abstract
We assess the relationship between food insecurity and land inequality in Colombia during the period 2005–2015. We use spatially controlled system estimation at the level of Departamentos (subnational administrative units), verifying its advantages when compared to linear non-spatially controlled estimation. The analysis builds upon the idea that there is a direct impact of land inequality on food insecurity, besides its indirect impact through its effect on general inequality and poverty. The paper describes the historical-geographical processes that have determined high concentration of land ownership in Colombia, and subsequently, it uses regression analyses to verify that there is a spatially controlled effect of land inequality on food insecurity, and not the other way around. This result holds under different spatial specifications and the inclusion of corresponding control variables. The direct connection between these variables calls for policy measures that directly address land inequality as a food insecurity determinant, in addition to the indirect solution that current poverty alleviation policies might have on food insecurity.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The processed database used in the regression analyses is available upon request.
References
Akpan, E. (2009). Oil resource management and food insecurity in Nigeria. Ghana European Report on Development (ERD) Conference in Accra. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4def9b1d21b42fcaf33e02ebbe79d98707980a0c
Albertus, M. (2019). The effect of commodity price shocks on public lands distribution: Evidence from Colombia. World Development, 113, 294–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.012
Anselin., L., Gallo, J. L., & Jayet, H. (2008). Spatial panel econometrics. In L. Matyas, & P. Sevestre (Eds.), The econometrics of panel data: Fundamentals and recent developments in theory and practice. Springer-Verlag Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75892-1
Arango, M. (2014). La Tierra en la historia de Colombia. Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Económicas (ACCE). Aurora.
Bandiera, A. (2021). Deliberate displacement during conflict: Evidence from Colombia. World Development, 146, 105547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105547
Baumeister, E. (2013). Concentración de Tierras y Seguridad Alimentaria en Centroamérica Coalición Internacional para el Acceso a la Tierra (ILC) y el Fondo de Desarrollo Noruego. http://cafodca.org/uploads/documentos/ConcentracionTierrasCentroAmerica.pdf
Cantillo, T., & Garza, N. (2022). Armed conflict. Institutions and deforestation: A dynamic spatiotemporal analysis of Colombia 2000–2018. World Development, 160, 106041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106041
Chang, Y., & Chatterjee, S. (2014). Household finance and food insecurity. Journal of Family & Economic Issues, 35, 499–515. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-013-9382-z
Corsi, S., Marchisio, L., & Orsi, L. (2017). Connecting smallholder farmers to local markets: Drivers of collective action, land tenure and food security in East Chad. Land Use Policy, 68, 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.07.025
Davalos, L., et al. (2014). Demand for beef is unrelated to pasture expansion in northwestern Amazonia. Biological Conservation, 170, 64–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.12.018
Debebe, S., & Zekarias, H. (2020). Analysis of poverty. Income inequality and their effects on food insecurity in southern Ethiopia. Agriculture & Food Security, 9(6), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-020-00269-3
Duncan, E., White, N., & Mengersen, K. (2017). Spatial smoothing in bayesian models: A comparison of weights matrix specifications and their impact on inference. International Journal of Health Geographics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-017-0120-x
Elmes, M. (2018). Economic inequality, food insecurity, and the erosion of equality of capabilities in the United States. Business & Society, 57(6), 1045–1074. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650316676238
Ewing, M., & Msangi, S. (2009). Biofuels production in developing countries: Assessing tradeoffs in welfare and food security. Environmental Science & Policy, 12(4), 520–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2008.10.002
Faguet, J-P., Sánchez, F., & Villaveces, M-J. (2020). The perversion of public land distribution by landed elites: Power, inequality and development in Colombia. World Development, 136, 105036.
Frankema, E. (2009). Has Latin America always being unequal? A comparative study of asset and income inequality in the long Twentieth Century. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004175914.i-294
Frongillo, E. C., Olson., R., Barbara, & Kendall, A. (1997). Nutritional consequences of food insecurity in a Rural New York State County. University of Wisconsin Madison: Institute for research on poverty. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp112097.pdf
Gomez, A. (2003). Colombia: El contexto de la desigualdad y la pobreza rural en Los noventa. Cuadernos De Economía, 22(38), 199–238. https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/ceconomia/article/view/10396/10875
Guo, B. (2011). Household assets and food security: Evidence from the survey of program dynamics. Journal of Family & Economic Issues, 32, 98–110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-010-9194-3
Holden, S., & Ghebru, H. (2016). Land tenure reforms. Tenure security and food security in poor agrarian economies: Causal linkages and research gaps. Global Food Security, 10, 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2016.07.002
ICBF. (2009). Encuesta Nacional de Situación Nutricional en Colombia 2005.
ICBF. (2011). Encuesta Nacional de Situación Nutricional en Colombia 2010.
ICBF. (2019). Encuesta Nacional de Situación Nutricional ENSIN 2015.
IGAC. (2012). Atlas de la distribución de la propiedad rural en Colombia. Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi - Universidad de los Andes.
Keovilignavong, O., & Suhardiman, D. (2020). Linking land tenure security with food security: Unpacking farm households’ perceptions and strategies in the rural uplands of Laos. Land Use Policy, 90, 104260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104260
Kidane, H., Alemu, Z., & Kundhlande, G. (2005). Causes of household food insecurity in Koredegaga peasant association. Oromiya zone. Ethiopia Agrekon, 24(4), 543–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2005.9523727
LeGrand., C. (1988). Colonización y protesta campesina en Colombia: 1850–1950. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Leonard, T., et al. (2018). Overlapping geographic clusters of food security and health: Where do social determinants and health outcomes converge in the US? SSM - Population Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.06.006
LeSage., J., & Pace, K. (2009). Spatial econometric models. In: M. Fischer & A. Getis (Eds.). Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03647-7_18
Lipton, M., & Saghai, Y. (2017). Food security. Farmland access ethics. And land reform. Global Food Security, 12, 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2016.03.004
Loopstra, R., & Tarasuk, V. (2013). Severity of household food insecurity is sensitive to change in household income and employment status among low-income families. The Journal of Nutrition, 148(3), 1316–1323. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.113.175414
Machado, A. (1998). La Cuestión Agraria en Colombia a Fines Del Milenio. El Ancora Editores.
Machado, A. (2017). El Problema De La Tierra: Conflicto Y Desarrollo en Colombia. Penguin Random House.
Mahmood, Z., et al. (2016). Agriculture land resources and food security nexus in Punjab. Pakistan: An empirical ascertainment. Food & Agricultural Immunology, 27(1), 52–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540105.2015.1079593
Mora, T. M., & Muñoz, J. C. (2008). Concentración de la propiedad de la tierra y producto agrícola en Antioquia. 1995-2004. Ecos de Economia: A Latin American Journal of Applied Economics, 12(26), 71–108.
Naylor, R., & Higgins, M. (2018). The rise in global biodiesel production: Implications for food security. Global Food Security, 16, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2017.10.004
Nkomoki, W., Bavorová, M., & Banout, J. (2018). Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and food security threats: Effects of land tenure in Zambia. Land Use Policy, 78, 532–538. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.07.021
Nuñez., J., & Ramirez, J. (2002). Determinantes de la Pobreza en Colombia. Años recientes. CEPAL - SERIE Estudios y perspectivas. https://repositorio.cepal.org/items/ddb12f51-e5c9-47e4-9dfa-0b8101b4d2ff
Nussio, E., & Pernet, C. (2013). The securitisation of food security in Colombia. 1970–2010. Journal of Latin American Studies, 45(4), 641–668. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X1300117X
Oyvat, C. (2016). Agrarian structures, urbanization, and inequality. World Development, 83, 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.01.019
Quang, D. (2013). Factor endowment. Human capital. And inequality in developing countries. Journal of Economic Studies, 40(1), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443581311283538
Rammohan, A., & Pritchard, B. (2014). The role of landholding as a determinant of food and nutrition insecurity in rural Myanmar. World Development, 64, 597–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.029
Rey, C. (2013). Análisis espacial de la correlación entre el cultivo de palma de aceite y desplazamiento forzado en Colombia. Cuadernos de Economía, 32(61):683–718. https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/bitstream/handle/unal/74372/42494-198142-1-PB.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Richani, N. (2012). The agrarian rentier political economy: Land concentration and food insecurity in Colombia. Latin American Research Review, 47(2), 51–78. https://doi.org/10.1353/lar.2012.0025
Riely, F. (1999). Food Security Indicators and Framework for use in the Monitoring and Evaluation of Food Aid Programs. Nutrition Technical Assistance Project (FANTA). https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnacg170.pdf
Rose, D., Gundersen, C., & Oliveira, V. (1998). Socio-economic determinants of food insecurity in the United States. Department of agriculture – economic research service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/47214/32340_tb1869_002.pdf?v=6471
Salas-Salazar, G. (2016). Conflicto armado y configuración territorial: Elementos para la consolidación de la paz en Colombia. Bitácora Urbano Territorial, 26(2), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.15446/bitacora.v26n2.57605
Sanchez, F. J. F., & Villaveces, M. (2020). The perversion of land reform by landed elites: Power. Inequality and development in Colombia. World Development, 136, 105036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105036
Sandholt, P., & Sørensen, T. (2012). Land inequality and conflict in Latin America in the twentieth century. Defence and Peace Economics, 23(1), 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2011.558726
Segovia, A. (2017). The relationships between food security and violent conflicts: The case of Colombia. FAO agricultural development economics – working paper 17 – 06. FAO. https://www.fao.org/3/i8339e/i8339e.pdf
Stakhovych, S., & Bijmolt, T. (2009). Specification of spatial models: A simulation study on weights matrices. Papers in Regional Science, 88, 389–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1435-5957.2008.00213.x
Suescún. C. (2013). La inercia de la estructura agraria en Colombia: determinantes recientes de la concentración de la tierra mediante un enfoque espacial. Cuadernos de Economia, 32(61):653–682. https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/bitstream/handle/unal/74371/42493-198141-1-PB.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
UPRA. (2016). Análisis De La Distribución De La Propiedad Rural en Colombia: Propuesta Metodológica. UPRA.
Verburg, P. H., Mertz, O., Erb, K. H., Haberl, H., & Wu, W. (2013). Land system change and food security: towards multi-scale land system solutions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(5), 494–502.
Wooldrigdge, J. (2013). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach. Cengage Learning. https://books.google.com/books?id=GHoJzgEACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome. We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. We further confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all of us.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Urbina, Y., Garza, N. & Viana, R. Land concentration and food insecurity: the Colombian case. Food Sec. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-024-01454-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-024-01454-z