Meta

The Llanos Basin beneath Meta's grasslands contains Rubiales, Colombia's largest producing oil field. The department sits east of the Andes in the Orinoquía region, close to Colombia's geographic center, making Villavicencio the gateway between Bogotá and the eastern plains. Oil extraction drove pronounced rural-to-urban migration; by 2024, the capital's metropolitan area reached 578,000 people—over half the department's 1.05 million inhabitants.

Yet by 2024, agriculture had overtaken petroleum as Meta's largest GDP contributor. The department leads national corn production, contributing 24% of Colombia's total through 142,710 hectares planted on the region's fertile soils. Livestock remains foundational—cattle ranching makes Meta 'the base product' of the Llanos economy. Plantain, yuca, and rice round out the agricultural mix. National crude production averaged 772,000 barrels daily in 2024, though output continues declining.

Deforestation-linked agricultural expansion creates sustainability pressures, prompting initiatives for zero-deforestation livestock models. By 2026, Meta will test whether agriculture can fully replace petroleum revenue as production declines—or whether the department that fed Colombia's oil boom becomes a case study in stranded assets and economic transition.