Colombian peace accord leads to expanded cocaine production

AFTER a peace deal was reached between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, and the Colombian government, the production and flow of cocaine from the country has almost tripled.

It’s been 17 years since the US government launched a $10 billion (R130bn) counter-narcotics project, known as Plan Colombia, and according to the Colombian government, the country produced 710 metric tons of cocaine last year, up from the 235 metric tons produced in 2013.

The nation is covered with more than 1.8 million hectares of coca, the largest figure in the country’s history, surpassing that of former drug lord Pablo Escobar’s epoch.

“We’ve never seen anything like it before,” Colombian defence minister Luis Carlos Villegas said.

“We don’t believe violence is the right instrument to rid Colombia of coca.”

Colombian officials have since implemented a strategy that offers cash incentives so that farmers can switch to alternative crops.

After the Farc signed the peace deal, it pledged to work with coca farmers, who were under their control, to plant alternative cash crops, like coffee and cocoa.

Cocaine overdose deaths in the US have reached a 10-year high and those who say they’ve used the drug for the first time also rose by 61% between 2013 and 2015.

Colombian security agencies working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency have seized 115 metric tons of cocaine in the first four months of this year.

Top officials agree that the end of the war with Farc has made the drug fight more difficult.

The peace accord signed last year by the Colombian government and the Farc rebels ended their 52-year internal war.