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| U.S. Promotion of Legal Crops Fails to Stem Coca |
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Posted by FoM on March 29, 2002 at 22:55:18 PT By Christopher Marquis Source: New York Times 
The State Department has concluded that its strategy to persuade peasant farmers in Colombia to replace their coca fields with legal crops is failing, administration officials said today.The alternative development strategy, for which Congress has allocated more than $50 million, has suffered from a lack of security in the coca-growing regions, a lack of follow-up by the Colombian government, and the difficulty of finding crops that can thrive in areas with poor soil, the officials said. The United States has invested nearly $2 billion since 2000 to support the country's armed forces, fumigate drug crops and provide economic options to farmers in Colombia and its neighbors. The American ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson, ordered a review of the program late last year. "They have concluded that we need to do stuff differently," said a senior State Department official. Asked if that meant rethinking the entire approach, the official replied, "Absolutely." The State Department review of the program, which was first reported Friday in The Los Angeles Times, concluded that many farmers had no intention of destroying their crops. The federal government estimated this month that coca cultivation in Colombia surged by nearly 25 percent last year, to 419,000 acres, despite fumigation, new military aid and the crop substitution campaign. The crop substitution effort has been focused in the hardscrabble southern provinces of Putumayo and Caquetá, where about 40,000 peasant growers signed an eradication pact in return for government aid. Under the program, Colombia is to provide seed for alternative crops or other immediate aid, and farmers are obliged to eradicate their coca fields by July. The United States Agency for International Development has pledged to provide incentives, training and money for infrastructure projects. The General Accounting Office reported last month that the strategy "faces serious obstacles." Among them, it cited a weak Colombian development agency with uncertain financing and the lack of a mechanism to ensure farmers' compliance. Mark Schneider, the development agency's chief for Latin America in the Clinton administration, said the strategy was doomed unless the Colombian government could establish a credible presence and provide security in a region that is overrun by leftist rebels and drug traffickers. Karen Hasbert, the development agency's deputy assistant administrator for Latin America, said it was too early to judge whether the alternative development strategy had failed. The program has only been in effect since last May, she said, and "it's impossible to create an alternative economy" in that time. Complete Title: U.S. Promotion of Legal Crops Fails to Stem Colombia's Coca Source: New York Times (NY) Related Articles & Web Site: Colombia Drug War News Aid Didn't Cut Coca Farming, U.S. Says Witness: Drug War Spraying Colombia To Death Activist Speaks Against U.S. Policy in Colombia Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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