Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 Source: New York Times (NY) Page: A6 Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Simon Romero Referenced: The UN report http://drugsense.org/url/IvCqlHL1 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/coca COLOMBIA: COCA GROWING DECLINES Cultivation of coca, the plant used to produce cocaine, fell 18 percent in Colombia last year, largely because of manual eradication efforts, the United Nations said in a report issued Friday. Cocaine production in Colombia, the world's largest producer of the drug, also fell 28 percent from a year earlier. These declines were partly offset by increases in coca cultivation in Bolivia, up 6 percent, and in Peru, up 4.5 percent, the report said. The declines in Colombia point to a return to cultivation levels of earlier this decade. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake