Pradera

Pradera (Spanish pronunciation: [pɾaˈðeɾa]) is a town and municipality in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.

Pradera is one of 42 municipalities in Valle de Cauca, and is located in the south-eastern corner of the department. Its geography is characterized by large mountain ranges of the Andes and meadows, which are largely used for sugarcane cultivation.

The town was officially established on 15 October 1862 by Rafael González Camacho, Sergio Carvajal, Sixto María Sánchez, Sixto Prado Concha, and Apolinar Obregón.

In the 19th century, the town, then a small hamlet on the Bolo river was part of the municipality of Palmira. In 1860, it was proposed to designate the town as its own village, and several names were suggested, including Nazaret and Mosquera, the later in honor of Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. In 1867, the town was officially named "Tierra de Prados" (English: Land of Meadows) and it became locally known as Pradera. In December 1870, Pradera was designated as its own municipality led by a commissioner or sheriff.

In 1871, the first official distillery opened in the municipality, and by 1917 the first automobile arrived. In 1925, the first railroad was constructed by the company Ferrocarril del Pacífico and in 1929 the first 90 kW power plant was installed.

Today, Pradera celebrates a variety of festivals: The Feria del Dulce is celebrated in October with verbenas, cavalcades and different events; In February it hosts a festival of Andean Music; in May an art festival; in November a small-business fair; and in December it celebrates the anniversary of Mary's immaculate conception.

Since the creation of the Pradera District, by Ordinance No. 1 of January 27, 1871, the economic base of the municipality has been agriculture and livestock. Other forms of production, such as manufacturing, constitute small-scale economic activity. Today, much of the economy revolves around the cultivation of sugar cane, green beans, and the raising of poultry. Pradera also has several shopping centers and a variety of small business producing handicrafts, industrial parts, and even silver nitrate.

When the country's economy was opened and globalized in the 1990s, the region experienced economic difficulties as the agricultural sector was unstable. As a result, the nearby cities of Cali and Palmira have attracted workers from Pradera and the town itself has suffered from low community participation and a loss of identity as many of its residents are forced to look elsewhere for employment. Several changes have been proposed to improve the current economic model, including a redistribution of municipal land distribution based on ecological regions as well as providing local governments with increased autonomy to develop their own interests.