Peasant Forestry Pension

Abstract

In the country's less populated areas, most peasant farmers have unused land with various types of vegetation, generally covered in scrub. This land can be enriched with valuable forestry species — since scrubland acts as a nursery favoring tree development — to address the lack of a pension system for Colombia's rural peasantry. A city dweller waits 20, 25, or sometimes 30 years for a retirement pension; peasant farmers could do the same, waiting for valuable trees planted on their land to mature over 15, 20, or 25 years, while living off the agricultural products they typically grow around their homes. Depending on the mix of tree species planted, the system requires between 7 and 15 enriched hectares for a peasant family to obtain an annual income or pension equal to the minimum annual wage, including legally mandated benefits. The system is already being piloted, and peasant farmers have embraced it enthusiastically, taking care to protect and nurture their enriched woodlands and scrubland — land that, for them, is no longer unused, unattractive, or futureless. Actions and programs like this improve the protection of the biodiversity that remains on peasant farms after the colonization process.