Background:
Knowing the strategic role of the information in the development of the rural sector, the “Strategic Information and Communication Net for the Agricultural Sector – AGRONET Colombia” was conceived for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the support of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)through the project TCP/COL/2902.
The purpose has been to form an integrated and decentralized net of information and communication that could provide strategic, appropriate, and synthetic information to the policy makers of the sector, and in the same time, offers to the different actors of the agro-production lines, with special attention in the small producers, agricultural information with local relevance about new techniques for a sustainable food security, and for the diversification of crops that improve their profitability and their chances in the market.
Although the fundamental theme of AGRONET has been to integrate relevant information from the primary systems of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the decentralization of the management of agricultural information and communication in local levels, it has been of great importance, looking for the sustainability of the Net, the establishment of synergies with other units of information management in the Nation, as well as other sources of sectorial information, fulfilling the requirements, such as decentralized institutions, research centers, universities, and projects that are being developed by national and international organizations

Objective and Functions:
Consolidate the Strategic Information and Communication Net for the Agricultural Sector – AGRONET, as a platform for the management of information and knowledge for the agricultural sector, supplying relevant, appropriate, and synthetic information to the policy makers, through the following actions:


* Integrate the different systems of agricultural information
* Facilitate the supply of information in only one place: the web
* Coordinate institutional efforts to facilitate the supply of information
* Answer to the demand of information to the users of the sector
* Facilitate the decision making process to improve the productivity, and food security in Colombia.

Institutional Framework:
The Net is supported in the institutions of the agricultural sector at the local, regional, and national levels. It looks for its strengthening through the availability of more information for the decision making, the transparency in the management of data, and the socialization with the actors as a basis for exchange and joint actions.

Technological Platform:
The Net is supported in a technological tool that looks for the analyses of the information and for the intelligence of business, with the objective of satisfy the demand of statistical and analytical information of the agricultural sector. This requires the articulation of different databases that are needed to facilitate the making of decisions of the different actors of the agricultural sector.

Network Entities: