Colombia's coca production soars to highest level in two decades, US says

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Colombia's coca production soars to highest level in two decades, US says

15 March 2017

Coca production in Colombia has surged to levels unseen in two decades of U.S. eradication efforts, according to a new White House report.

Cultivation of the plant used to make cocaine rose 18% last year from 2015, with officials in the Andean nation estimating 188,000 hectares (465,000 acres) of Colombian land now contained coca crops.

The soaring coca production comes as Colombia begins implementing a peace accord that calls on the country’s biggest rebel movement to renounce drug trafficking and work with the government to replace coca plants with alternative crops.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Anthony Tong Lee