Una Visión Global del Sector Hortícola

Abstract

Vegetables are a main part of the food pyramid but consumption is a lot less than the minimum recommended. Even though we have physical resources available for an efficient production, we are importing vegetables and horticulture has not provoked processes of regional development. Horticulture in Colombia is the result of cultural interchange coming from migration and trade intended for attending particular interests, traditions, and uses. The discovery brought vegetables from Europe to America and took vegetables on the opposite way. Today, horticulture has good perspectives given its contribution to the human feeding and also given the emerging agriculture and food industry. Everywhere in Colombia, vegetables are a source of challenges for agriculture and research. Vegetables' production faces great technological constraints because of seed's importation, high illnesses and plagues' incidence, indiscriminate use of chemicals, and poor handling customs. There are also structural restrictions due to deterioration of natural resources and lack of value aggregation to the product. This way, sowed areas and productivity of the main vegetables have stopped growing. Horticulture will face in the near future restrictions due to the human health protection. It will also face challenges on the developing ways leading to improving the rural production environments and preserving natural resources. Horticulture will need coherent policies to improve the production and distribution means; in such a way that the joint goal be the main motor and that it contributes to human development and economic efficiency on the basis of technical and scientific development.