Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Eradicating Coca by Hand

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Mar 25 2001 (IPS) - A thousand families in the southern Colombian department of Putumayo committed themselves on Mar 16 to take part in a government-sponsored initiative to eliminate 1,000 hectares of illegal coca crops by hand – in exchange for reliable supplies of food. The government has launched a program for the manual and voluntary eradication of illicit coca crops – the raw material for cocaine – involving farm families that own fewer than four hectares of land.

Such pacts with farmers replace aerial spraying, a coca destruction method local communities reject because it jeopardizes human health and the environment. Authorities say manual eradication methods will be implemented on 15,000 of the 130,000 hectares planted with coca in Colombia.