Alejandro Navas

ISU Agronomy March 2^nd 1999

Colombia is the main port of entry to South America. It is located in the center of the planet, along the equatorial line at the north westernmost tip of the South American continent. It has an area of 1’141.748 sq. km. with a population of approximately 36 million people. It is the fourth largest in area and the second largest in population in South America.

Colombia is composed by five large natural regions: The Atlantic Coast (Caribbean), the Pacific Coast, the Orinoco River Basin (Orinoquía), the Amazon River Basin (Amazonía) and the Andean Region. The Andean region is where 70% of the country’s population is settled. Colombia covers just 1% of the surfaces of the earth; nevertheless, it has 10% of all flora and fauna of the world.

The maize research in Colombia started in 1914 when the first agricultural college was founded in Medellin. Today it is part of the biggest university in Colombia (Universidad Nacional de Colombia). Until 1950 all the research was done by Colombian researchers. During that time, the very well known ETO population was developed and today it has spread through out the world.

In the fifties, the Rockefeller foundation and the Colombian government created the special research office (Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales) that developed many varieties (ROCOL series). In addition to this, they advocated the formation of the germplasm bank, which has the mission of conserve the germplasm in the Andean Region. They also sponsored the publication of the books Races of Maize, in Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Venezuela.

In 1962 the ICA (Colombian Agricultural Institute) was created. Then, in 1993 the ICA was restructured into CORPOICA (Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research). It is a non-profit, governmental private institution, with the objective: "To develop and transfer sustainable, competitive and equitable agricultural technologies that increase the efficiency of agricultural production."

In 1996, maize was planted in 666,000 ha, the production was 1.3 million t, and the national yield average was 1.88 t ha^-1. In the same year Colombia imported 1.1 million t of maize.

In Colombia, there are two major systems of production. The traditional system generates 73% of production in 85% of area, with the average yield of 1.3 t ha^-1. The mechanical system produces 23% in 15% of area, with the average yield of 2.7 t ha^-1. The Andean, Atlantic, Orinoco, and inter-Andean valleys regions account for 90% of the area used by these systems.

The principal limitations of the traditional and mechanical systems are drought, low N, earliness, and Al toxicity.

Within strategies and future research, we have considered a focus on Atlantic and Orinoco natural regions. The system for the Atlantic region must include: rotation of maize and cotton, improving the mechanical system, and using early hybrids with drought and low N tolerance. The system for the Orinoco region needs improving tolerance to Al toxicity and inter-cropping maize//forage systems to replace extensive livestock with intensive livestock.

In general, we need to increase maize hybrid projects and use modern technology such as biotechnology (Marker Assisted Selection) for selection under biotic and abiotic stress conditions.

Arboleda R., F. 1986. Programa Nacional de Maíz de Colombia: Plan de desarrollo 1986-1990. En: XII

CORPOICA REGIONAL 2. 1998. Programa Regional Agricola. Informe anual de actividades.

Diaz A., C.; Lobo A., M. 1997. Los Recursos de Maíz en Colombia. Actualidades CORPOICA, Regional

Granados, G., S. Pandey, H. Ceballos, J. Duque-Vargas, L.A. Leon, J. E. Vargas, G. Torres, A. Navas.

Perez, J.C. 1998. Programa de melhoramento de milho na Colombia: Objetivos, resultados e perspectivas