COLOMBIA

Department of Huíla It is located in the southwest of the country, in the Andean region. Its economy generates 1.66% of Colombian GDP; It has an estimated population (2021) of 1,131,934 inhabitants equaling to 2.2% of the participation in the total population. The department has a wide variety of climates due to the diversity of thermal floors that vary from 35 ° C to 24 ° C. Hydrography The Huila is prolific in water and its axis of the hydrographic system cor responds to the upper basin of the river. 40 km from Neiva is the Betania dam, located in the municipality of Campoalegre, “where th e I G UA f a r m i s located”. This hydroelectric and dam is one of the largest artificial lakes from Colombia.

Orchids Magdalena, which is the most important stream in the country, Huila has valuable ecosystems rich in flora, fauna, water resources and landscapes such as Páramos, Andean forests, tropical dry forest and desert areas such as the Tatacoa desert one of the main tourist attractions of Huila. Together with the natural national park Nevado del Huila, owner of a 20 km2 ice cap, the municipality of Rivera is located natural births of hot springs, which are visited by tourists due to their medicinal properties. El Huila is one of the 10 Colombian departments with the highest number of bird species. At least 33% of the area of the department is in a state of conservation and protection. These natural wonders that the department has, have been declared by the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Alto Magdalena-CAM as protected areas, areas of strict preservation and conservation.

Economy Huila is supported mainly in the agricultural sector, trade-products and services, oil exploitation and the transport, tourism and communications sector, which on average represents 74% of the total departmental internal product. Agriculture Agriculture has developed and become more technical in recent years. Its main permanent crops are coffee (it is the first area of the country with the highest

volume of grain production), banana, sugar cane (panelera), cassava, granadilla, passion fruit, lulo, avocado and fruit trees in general. Temporary crops by harvest: rice (9.6% of Colombian production is grown in Huila), technical corn, traditional corn, tobacco, beans, tomato, melon, squash and various vegetables. Cattle raising This sub-sector is very important for the department, since different production systems participate significantly with 6% within the departmental GDP. Livestock activity is shown to be the most

important and relevant, since it participates directly in the reactivation of the sector. Huila is an exporter of males for breeding and raising cattle. Fishing Huila is the first producer of tilapia nationwide. Fish farming is one of the activities that has positioned itself in the national market in recent years; This is how the department of Huila is currently considered the first producer at the national level, specifically the production of tilapia, which represented 89% of the fish production with 41,265.4 tons. Mining El Huila has 228 mining titles, which corresponds to 2.5% of the Department's territory. Of the total of these titles, 92.98% are in the exploitation stage. This activity has diversified into the extraction of precious metals by 69.2%; in constr uction materials by 22.8%   (material found on the Igua farm); phosphoric rock in 5.2%; non-metallic minerals in 2.4% limestone in 0.83%. Building Construction activity has been one of the most dynamic in recent years, both nationally and for the department of Huila. Neiva concentrated more than 70 percent of the licenses approved in the department, with an average annual increase of 10.9 percent between 2007 and 2014. Pitalito follows in importance with a share of 24.1 percent.% of the approved area in the department and an annual growth of 12.5%, and, finally, Garzón with 5.4% participation and an

average annual rate of -13.8%, which explains the fall in the same way at the departmental level in the same year. On average, 75% of the area approved in said period was for housing construction.  Primary sector Neiva, the capital, is one of the most important commercial hubs in southern Colombia.