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For
6,500 years, the coca crop has been a part of the tradition and customs of the
Peruvian peasantry. Coca is used in chewing, medicinal applications, and
religious and magical rituals. The expansion of coca crops was encouraged by the
increased demand for cocaine in industrialized countries and the enormous
financial capacity and flexibility of the narcotrafficking organizations. The favorable agricultural conditions for coca crops, continued poverty, and the shortage and deterioration of resources in almost all of the
surrounding Andean areas to the valleys of coca growers have also contributed to
the increase of coca cultivation during this time.
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By 1978, traditional coca crops in Peru were respected as a part of the
national culture. The agreements of that year gave coca crops legitimacy
in a traditional market, which was reflected in the National Company of
Coca, ENACO. ENACO is a company that buys and sells coca leaves;
however, a large part of coca leaf goes to the illegal market and supports
drug trafficking.
In
1990, the Peruvian Government abandoned all repression against coca farmers
because the farmers were beginning to support the Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path)
guerilla organization. From then on, the State began to create
confidential networks between the cultivating farmers and organizations in
charge of fighting drug trafficking. The government suspended the
repression to recover the loyalty of farmers towards the State and to
minimize the existing alliance between the farmers and the insurgent groups. |
With
the objective of progressively reducing the area of coca crops with illicit
intentions, the Government of Peru has designed an integral, participative,
comprehensive and articulated strategy that is sustained in alternative
development that will offer sustainable alternatives to cultivating coca crops.
This is to be complemented by the interdiction actions of the aerial maritime,
fluvial and terrestrial with the purpose of influencing the price of the coca
leaf; to discourage farmers of this crop; and to increase the punitive action of
the State against the mafias of drug trafficking that take advantage of poverty
in order to make the farmers employees of the coca economy. The alternative
development programs and interdiction are complemented with eradication
programs, where a plan in which eradication with the objective to jeopardize the
farmers in the elimination of their illicit crops is being implemented.
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principal problem of the National Plan of Alternative Development, PNDA,
is the weak presence of the State in the peripheral zones where the
underground economy is developing. The achievements that stand out in the
plans include the institutional consolidation of the fight against drugs,
like the Peruvian counterpart of international aid; the incorporation of
the environmental variable in alternative development plans, which has
allowed the implementation of reforestation as a viable solution due to
the creation of participative mechanisms. It is also worth emphasizing
that regional and local participation was encouraged, which allowed the
participation of the communities in decision-making. In addition, the
implantation of evaluation and monitoring systems stand out, which allows
a more efficient establishment of the results of these plans. |
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The agricultural activities of alternative development that Peru is
concentrating on giving priority to licit crops, like coffee, coco, palm, oil palm, fruit trees,
banana, rice, corn, and cotton, among others. Therefore, CICAD implemented
the project: Tropical
Crops Research-Biological Control of Cacao Diseases in Peru.
Marketing Strategy
(PowerPoint format, 1.1 Mb)
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