Columbia can be divided into several climatic zones. The regions on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, the river valleys, the eastern plains and the Amazonas areas show mean annual temperatures of over 24°C. Temperatures in the Andes fluctuate according to altitude.
With a total area of 1,410,784 km², Columbia is the fourth largest state in Latin America and had a population of approx. 30 million in 1988 of which more than 60% are Indians. The growth rate has amounted to 2% during the last ten years. The proportion of urban population is unusually high for a so-called developing country. 98% of the total population belongs to the state Catholic church.
The project region comprises the Valle de Cauca between the central and western Cordillera and borders on the Pacific Ocean. The valley covers an area of 2,200,000 hectares of which 326,983 hectares are administrated by the Departamento de Valle and 99,875 hectares by the Departamento Cauca. The Cauca river flows through the Cauca valley and is fed by numerous tributaries flowing down from the mountains through river valleys - so-called Cuencas. The annual precipitation is subject to great fluctuations of between 1,000 mm and 2,000 mm annually. The mean annual temperature amounts to approx. 23&°C but can be considerably lower in higher mountainous regions.
Considering its natural conditions, the region has a substantial potential for agricultural development. 35% of the soils are among the best in the world. Today, the region is marked by sugar-cane cultivation. In 1983, sugar-cane was grown on 400,000 hectares. 13 of the 14 Columbian sugar-cane processing companies are located in the Valle de Cauca. In 1983 they produced 1,340,190 tons of sugar.
Although Columbia has substantial natural resources the economy was dominated by coffee production for many years. With the decline of coffee prices and the increase in the production of oil, oil became the main source of income for the country in 1990. Orientation towards exports overshadowed domestic production in the agricultural sector for a long time so that in 1990, 309 million US$ worth of foodstuffs had to be imported. Nevertheless, beef production has been falling in recent years due to declining profit rates. On the other hand, there has been positive development in foul production.
The economic situation of farms in the agricultural sector is very varied. Poor farmers hardly have access to modern means of production. The farmer himself is often forced to improve his income situation by labouring. 62% of rural landowners have between 0.5 and 5 hectares which constitutes only 5% of the total land owned.
According to estimations by the Insitituto Colombiano Agropecuario, the number of pigs in Columbia currently amounts to approx. 2,300,000 and the number of cattle to approx. 22.7 million. Intensive and modern methods of animal husbandry have only spread during recent years. In the south of the Valle de Cauca, there are approx. 180 medium-sized and large pig breeders with an average of 270 head, in the north there are 94 pig breeders with an average of 100 pigs (a total of 5,636 pig breeders was recorded for Valle). A survey carried out by an expertise commission in June 1992 recorded 3,702 farms with a sufficient supply of biomass. However, the form of stabling was not taken into consideration during this calculation.