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21 May 2003

U.N. Says Coca Cultivation in Peru Remained Stable in 2002

(Survey dispels fears of shift in coca-growing from Colombia) (450)
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United Nations says coca cultivation in Peru
remained "stable" in 2002, dispelling fears of a shift in coca-growing
from neighboring Colombia, where a decline was recorded.
The U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the government of Peru
said in a new study called "Coca Survey for 2002" that some 46,700
hectares of coca were under cultivation in Peru during that year, a
one-percent increase from survey results of the previous year. Despite
the small increase, the level of coca cultivation remained well below
the cultivation levels recorded in the mid-1990s, the survey found.
"Concerns regarding a possible displacement of coca cultivation from
Colombia to Peru, as a consequence of the increased eradication
campaign reduction in the coca area in Colombia during the previous
two years, did not materialize in 2002," the survey said.
The increase in Peru was mainly due to the rehabilitation of abandoned
fields in important coca-growing regions like the department
(province) of Apurimac, which produces some 30 percent of Peru's coca,
the U.N. said in a May 15 statement. The increase in Apurimac was also
due to the continuing worldwide depression in the price of coffee --
the region's main alternative crop.
These results follow UNODC's report on Colombia, which showed a 30
percent reduction in coca cultivation from 2001 to 2002.
A decrease in Colombia coca cultivation in 2002 was also reported by
the U.S. State Department in its International Narcotics Control
Strategy Report, issued March 1. State Department figures showed a
decline in coca cultivation in Colombia of 15 percent in 2002.
Regarding Peru, the State Department said the pace of coca eradication
picked up in the last four months of 2002 after it had temporarily
slowed when that country faced social unrest from coca farmers and
other civic sectors. Subsequently, a number of factors spurred greater
cooperation that enabled Peru to eradicate the target goal of 7,000
hectares of coca for the year, the State Department said.
The United Nations said coca cultivation in the Andean region as a
whole -- Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia -- dropped by 17 percent in 2002,
to 173,100 hectares, the first decrease recorded in over a decade.
Despite these developments, UNODC's Executive Director Antonio Maria
Costa warned that Peru needs a strategy to provide attractive, viable
options that will dissuade farmers from growing coca leaves.
"This means more alternative development, aerial and land
interdiction, and precursor control," he said.
Costa said the pressure to shift coca growth from Colombia to Peru is
expected to remain.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)