Written by: Jenny Patricia Perdomo
The role of the SAC is to bring the representation of the producers of agriculture. In this sense SAC carries out internal articulation of interests and serves as interlocutor with other social groups and the state.
SAC contributes to the strength and functionality of Colombian democracy as well it helps to organize the society, synthesize the aspirations of producers, build consensus through dialogue with other social groups and harmonize the interests of the agricultural sector with the general interests of the nation.
SAC has a fundamental commitment to the highest aspirations of the Colombian welfare, justice, peace and unity, based on the democratic system. This was stated by the union campaign from Colombian Agricultural Society, "SAC is not political or religious, or totalitarian, or corporate, it is simply an open democratic organization where each farmer can work accordingly with their spirit and their own ideas and feelings.”
To fulfill its function of representation, SAC uses the media to reach its public and publishes the National Agriculture Magazine, a newsletter and website, among others. Performs other contacts with unions and other social organizations and also has political representation with the state.
In this regard, the SAC is, by law, an advisory body of the Government in the field of agriculture and participates in its own right, inter alia: the boards of the National Apprenticeship Service, Sena, the Colombian Agricultural Institute, ICA, the Colombian Institute Rural Development, Incoder, the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural, Corpoica Research, the Permanent Commission on Wage and Labour Policies, also on the board of the Fund for Financing the Agricultural Sector, Finagro.
The Colombian Agricultural Society is the only guild leadership that exists in the country, i.e., the union of unions. This constitutes a valuable institutional and organizational development, thanks to the wisdom and foresight of farmers and industry associations.
The existence of producer associations and their leadership responds to two distinct problems. The first exercise as spokesman and representative of their particular products and procedures and relevant negotiations, the dome devotes his attention to the general interests of all producers of agriculture and its alignment with the interests of the nation. Consequently, the SAC coordinates and express the positions of the agricultural sector in aspects of welfare policies of the rural population, prices, credit, land reform, suitability, land, research, innovation and technology transfer, management of natural resources, marketing of agricultural products, foreign trade, public investment directed to the rural sector and the impact of global economic management on agricultural production.
To properly perform its functions, the SAC should have adequate autonomy and independence, not only with the State but also from private interests that may be faced by other organizational consulting. This autonomy and the relative distance of the SAC regarding immediate interests allows it to act with authority and balance in their pronouncements. This requires a solid institutional, technical and financial entity.
The existence of the SAC and the scope of its action are based on the trust and support of the unions, associations and agro producers. They are its reason for being, its beginning and its end.
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