the number of coca crops in Colombia broke records in 2021

Coca cultivation in Colombia in 2021 closed with 204,000 cultivated hectares, 61,000 more than the previous year, thus representing an increase of 43%, according to the annual report, presented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC).

One of the conclusions of the report indicates that, that year, “coca cultivation reached historical levels in Colombia and the downward trend that had been occurring in the last three years was broken”.

The UNODC regional director for the Andean Region and the Southern Cone, Candice Welsch, highlighted that it is “once again the highest figure in the 22 years of UNODC monitoring” and added that the potential to produce cocaine hydrochloride grew by 14%.

The report also indicates that the production of coca leaf, as well as that of cocaine, grew in seven regions of the eight regions where crops are found in Colombia. The Pacific, Catatumbo and South-Central Bolívar were the most affected regions.

As published in 2017 by the UNOCD, Colombia closed 2016 with 188,000 hectares of illicit crops, 18% more than the previous year, reaching an all-time high. Plantations have been increasing since 2012, when there were 78,000 hectares.

When presenting the report, the Colombian Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, emphasized that the report’s conclusions are an example of the “failure of the war on drugs”, an idea in which has repeatedly insisted President Gustavo Petro.

“If we continue doing the same thing we have been doing in recent years, the result will not change,” he added. Likewise, he stressed that the government “will design and implement a drug policy that does not include the legalization of cocaine.”

For his part, Welsch pointed out that it is essential to consolidate strategies that give relevance to the community to enable the viability of future generations in the territories dedicated to coca cultivation.

According to a report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), presented in July, Colombia reduced the number of hectares used for illicit crops and drug production in 2021. However, it is the country with the most cultivated hectares of the territories evaluated by the White House.

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