Why is Coca Production on the Rise in Colombia?

Apr 19, 2017 | Ross Eventon
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In early March 2017, the United States government and the United Nations announced large increases in the amount of coca being cultivated in Colombia. Speaking at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs blamed the growth on the machinations of drug trafficking gangs and greedy peasants who, she claimed, were planting more coca so they could take advantage of the new substitution initiatives under the peace accords. 

According to the text of the peace agreement, the government should be weaning campesinos (peasant farmers) off growing coca by first offering incentives to grow alternative crops. Nevertheless, forced manual eradication takes place across the country, and the Colombian government has announced the largest cultivation target in its history: 100,000 hectares. The death knell for Colombian agriculture, OXFAM America estimated, would mean around 1.8 million farmers could suffer a significant drop in their income, leaving them with few options except migration, joining the FARC, or growing coca.