Report: More coca grown in Colombia

A report from the United Nations’ office on drugs and crime (UNODC) found that coca growth in Colombia grew by 27% last year. Though the country’s coca output has been slightly reduced, the head of the UNODC was “surprised and shocked” that coca growth had gone up.

Hybrid coca varieties and increased resistance to herbicides are factors in the spike of Colombian coca growth, according to the report. Despite setbacks in recent years to Colombian guerillas, the chief of the country’s police acknowledged that most of the coca has been grown in “areas controlled by insurgents.”

Other South American countries did not fare too well in the UNODC report; coca growth in Bolivia and Peru grew by 5% and 4%, respectively.
Image- BBC News

Sources- Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC News, The Latin Americanist, Al Jazeera