This farmer wanted to quit the cocaine industry - he couldn't

A significant story is unfolding on the international scene. This farmer wanted to quit the cocaine industry - he couldn'tImage caption, Coca farmer Perea says he has not had the financial support required to stop growing the cropByCatherine EllisBusiness reporter, Reporting fromMeta, ColombiaPublished1 hour agoWhen Perea stopped growing coca - the raw material used to make cocaine - he vowed never to plant it again. He uprooted the green bushes on his small farm in a remote corner of the province of Meta in Colombia, reachable only by river, and replaced them with legal crops like cassava and plantain. Perea was one of thousands who joined a government-run crop substitution programme aimed at helping farmers abandon coca.

But much of the promised assistance never arrived, and a lack of roads and recurring floods made it difficult to sell his produce. In 2024, disillusioned, he began planting coca again. "It's a tragedy," says Perea.

The Details

"But when you have children and no work, what choice do you have? If no help ever arrives, you go back to growing it. "Colombia's escalating, brutal internal conflict is defining its presidential election Published21 JuneBBC joins Colombian commandos fighting 'never-ending battle' against drug gangs Published3 FebruaryThe coca leaf is an ancestral crop traditionally used by indigenous communities in teas and medicines.

But today most of it is processed into cocaine. An estimated 70% of the global supply of the illegal drug comes from Colombia. "Coca has some major advantages over other crops," says Lucas Marín Llanes, a Colombian researcher who focuses on the coca economy and substitution strategies.

"Harvests are quick - farmers can get three or four a year - it's easier to transport, and farmers know what price they'll get. "Research Marín has worked on shows coca cultivation can also boost local economies, increasing municipal GDP by as much as 10% in some areas between 2014 and 2019. Substitution programmes were designed to help Colombian coca farmers move away from the crop and build legal livelihoods.

What Experts Say

Yet today the planting of coca is at record levels at more than 250,000 hectares - and many Colombians in substitution programmes say they have been let down. Image caption, Coca leaves, which can be processed into the drug cocaineElena Hernández moved to the coca-growing region of Guaviare during the boom of the 1990s, lured by better pay. "There was more money back then - you could see it everywhere," she says.

"I managed to save and buy a small house. "But the coca industry also brought violence and insecurity. Armed groups fought for control, while the government tried to curb production through manual eradication, aerial fumigation and arrests.

These efforts cut off families' incomes but failed to stem cultivation. So when a nationwide substitution programme was introduced by the then government in 2017, Hernández was eager to sign up, joining around 100,000 families who were promised financial support in return for moving away from coca.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.