
Colombia's government has reached a deal with cattle farmers to buy 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land, earmarked for poor rural farmers to push agrarian reform aimed at boosting food production and tackling poverty, the minister of agriculture said on Friday.
"We've reached total agreement, this is an historic act, the third component of the agrarian reform is beginning," Agriculture Minister Cecilia Lopez said in a statement, adding the deal will be signed next week by President Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist leader.