Relationship Between Rural Poverty and Agricultural Diversification at a Local Scale in Colombia: An Approach through Spatial Effects

Alejandro Mojica Godoy

DOI 10.7160/aol.2025.170406
No 4/2025, December
pp. 67-70

Mojica Godoy, A. (2025) "Relationship Between Rural Poverty and Agricultural Diversification at a Local Scale in Colombia: An Approach through Spatial Effects", AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 67-79. ISSN 1804-1930 DOI 10.7160/aol.2025.170406.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between local agricultural diversification and rural poverty in Colombia. The evidence presented suggests that municipal-scale agricultural diversification is associated with higher levels of rural poverty. The primary mechanism driving this relationship is the loss of external economies of scale in agricultural production. However, when analyzing the spatial effects (autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity), it was found that this relationship varies across the country. Neighboring municipalities have opposite spillover effects that offset the positive effect. In addition, the presence of small rural producers, greater provision of public goods, the existence of industrial crops, and lower persistence of acts of violence were all found to be associated with lower levels of rural poverty. This study joins the literature on the economic and social effects of agricultural diversification, particularly in the context of its promotion as a means of adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change

Keywords

Agricultural diversification, poverty, spatial econometrics, spillover effects, regional economics

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