Identificación de indicadores de evaluación y seguimiento de la asistencia técnica agropecuaria en Antioquia (Colombia)

According to Colombian legislation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the Secretariats of Agriculture and Rural Development of each department have to evaluate and monitor the direct rural technical assistance. This service has to be provided by all municipalities throughout the country and must be free of charge for small producers; however, there is no indicator system available for its implementation. For this reason, the aim of this study was to identify through participatory methods, indicators that allow the design of a monitoring and an assessment system to guide the public policy on this issue. In order to identify the indicators, 18 participatory workshops were carried out in the subregions of the department of Antioquia, Colombia. As a result, 39 indicators were identified and later selected to assess the nine criteria established by the legislation; these were also validated and adjusted based on the experiences of the technical assistants who provide the service throughout the municipalities. Hence, the technical assistance performance index (tapi) was built. The construction and selection of indicators through a participatory process led to the design of an assessment and monitoring system that has been proposed as a management tool to improve the direct rural technical assistance service in the department of Antioquia, Colombia.