The search for rural development in Colombia and the provision of agricultural credit was a constant between the decades of 1950 and 1980. Far from being free of debates and tensions, agricultural credit was central to the drive of agricultural technification, and the variation in its modalities shows the way in which this instrument was transformed in response to the atmosphere of discussion around Colombian agrarian problems, led by the state apparatus. Though outwardly it appeared to be neutral and technical, agricultural credit was designed to combat agrarian problems that were also interpreted to be product of technical failures, while fulfilling specific economic, political and social motives. Through the study of this atmosphere of debate and of the construction of a wide state bureaucracy –which characterized the activities of the Caja Agraria in Puente Nacional, Santander– I analyze the ways in which agricultural credits and associated services were carried out in Colombian rural areas to fuel a capitalist type of agricultural production. This structure shaped specific State-peasant relations and played a role in the more day-to-day aspects of peasant lives.
