Peru will become the world’s number one producer of coca in 2011 if
Colombia is able to continue to successfully eradicate the illicit crop
and the cultivation of the crop in Peru continues to grow, Peruvian
experts say.
According to Peruvian newspaper La Republica, the cultivation of coca in the Andean country grew a steady four to five percent in the past few years. in 2008, 138 thousand acres of Peruvian soil was used for the cultivation of coca.
According to latest numbers by the UN, Colombia was able to drastically diminish the amount of acres used for the cultivation of coca last year. 198 thousand acres of Colombian land were used for coca cultivation in 2008, but this was an 18 percent decrease compared to the year before.
According to experts of ConsultAndes, a consulting company specialized in Peruvian and Andean issues, it will take no less than two years for Peru to knock Colombia off the number one spot of coca producing countries.
“According to our projections, if the levels of reduction of coca cultivation in Colombia maintain, there will be a ‘balloon effect’ for the second time, which would cause the amount of coca plantations in our country to grow by ten percent. If so, Peru will very probably become the world’s largest coca producer in 2011 or 2012,” Jaime Garcia of ConsultAndes told the newspaper.
According to his colleague Jaime Antezana, new coca plantations are emerging in remote jungle areas close to the Colombian and Brazilian border and coca is now also grown in areas where until recently there was no cultivation of the crop whatsoever.