Pubdate: Wed, 03 Apr 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Susannah A. Nesmith
http://www.mapinc.org/colombia.htm

COLOMBIA CROP PROGRAM FACES DISARRAY

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A U.S.-backed program to help poor farmers 
abandon drug crops is in disarray because Colombia's cocaine 
heartland isn't suitable for most other crops, according to a new 
study.

The study, paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development, 
throws into doubt efforts by the Colombian government to help farmers 
switch from growing coca, the main ingredient of cocaine, to legal 
crops.

The study found that in Putumayo state, the heart of Colombia's coca 
region, only a small percentage of the farmers who signed agreements 
to abandon coca have actually done so, according to a U.S. Embassy 
official.

The Colombian government promised to pay the 38,000 farmers who 
signed the pacts as much as $1,000 each to help them grow other 
crops. But as of early April, only 9,500 had been paid, according 
Colombian government figures.

The farmers of Putumayo have been skeptical from the start that the 
government would uphold its end of the bargain, and said they would 
uproot their coca bushes only when development aid began arriving.

The new study, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, has 
led the U.S. government to decide not to fund any more of the deals, 
or pay for most crop substitution projects. Instead, the $52 million 
in aid has been switched to infrastructure projects and social 
spending to reward communities that eradicate their coca crops, the 
official said.

The problem in Putumayo state, an isolated jungle region on the edge 
of the Amazon basin, is that few crops other than the hardy coca bush 
thrive in the thin soil, meaning that commercial-level farming of 
food crops is impractical, the report said.

The study concluded that tree crops could work in Putumayo and USAID 
is contributing to projects like the development of a hearts of palm 
industry. The tree projects take time to yield results and don't 
solve the problem of how farmers who abandon coca will earn a living 
in the near term.

Colombian officials defended their crop-substitution efforts.

Gonzalo de Francisco, the Colombian official in charge of the 
project, said he understood that few crops could be grown in the 
region on a large scale to be competitive commercially with food 
crops from Colombia's more fertile regions. He insisted that 
Putumayo's farmers must be given some way to survive if they give up 
growing coca.

"We don't agree with the idea that Putumayo is not viable," he told a 
press conference Tuesday. "There are 200,000 people living there. We 
have to respect them."

De Francisco said more than 2,470 acres of coca have been voluntarily 
eliminated in Putumayo. Overall, the project is making progress, he 
insisted, adding that Colombian government will go forward with the 
program, even without U.S. support.

The U.S. government has pledged more than $1 billion to Plan 
Colombia, President Andres Pastrana's program to dramatically reduce 
Colombia's drug output. Most of that money is for military equipment 
and training so the Colombian government can fumigate vast areas of 
the country where coca and heroin poppies are grown.
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