Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: More Palm Oil, Less Coca

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Jan 19 2004 (IPS) - The presidential advisory council for Plan Colombia, an anti-drugs initiative, approved two projects for growing palm oil trees in the department of Norte de Santander, aimed at replacing illegal drug crops and to benefit 714 rural families. The authorities are financing palm oil plantations in the northern departments of Magdalena, Bolívar, Cesar, Nariño and Santander, with an investment of almost 20 million dollars.

The objective is to convince peasant farmers to voluntarily substitute illegal plantations of coca (used to make cocaine), poppies (used for opium and heroin) and marijuana.

Some 2,000 small farmers have set up 21 associations of palm growers to promote the cultivation and marketing of palm oil and its byproducts.

With 150,000 hectares planted with these palms, Colombia is the Latin American leader in palm oil production, and fourth in the world.