Colombia: Cocaine crop production soars

Production of the raw crop that produces cocaine soared by more than a quarter in Colombia last year, mocking a multi-billion dollar US effort to eradicate it.

The increase in coca growth was “a surprise and a shock” the UN said.

Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine-producer but coca cultivation was also up four percent in Peru and five percent in Bolivia, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported in its annual survey.

It estimated cocaine production in the Andean region was stable, however, at about 994 tons compared to 984 tons in 2006. Cocaine production failed to keep pace with coca planting because crops were more widely dispersed in smaller plots.

“The increase in coca cultivation in Colombia is a surprise and shock: a surprise because it comes at a time when the Colombian government is trying so hard to eradicate coca; a shock because of the magnitude of cultivation,” executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, said.

He noted, however, that almost half of Colombia’s coca comes from just 10 of the country’s 195 district. “Just like in Afghanistan, where most opium is grown in provinces with a heavy Taliban presence, in Colombia most coca is grown in areas controlled by insurgents.”

A total of 382 square miles of coca cultivation were found in Colombia last year the UN said. It estimated total cultivation last year in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, the world’s three principal sources of coca, was 701 square miles.

Washington has spent more than 5 billion dollars in Colombia over the past seven years to combat both a long-running insurgency and the world’s largest cocaine industry, a business that helps fund a five-decade armed conflict.

Some Democrats in the US Congress are criticising the heavy military focus aid to Colombia. About 80% of the money goes to the military while only 20% is dedicated to social projects designed to wean farmers off coca.

One reason for the rise in coca cultivation is that farmers are quickly replanting the crop, finding ways to minimise the effects of aerial spraying.