HomeNewsBriefPeru to Increase Coca Eradication 50% in 2013
BRIEF

Peru to Increase Coca Eradication 50% in 2013

PERU / 15 JAN 2013 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

Peru's government has increased its coca eradication target for 2013 to a record 22,000 hectares, as part of the government's efforts to cut cocaine output after it was named as the world's biggest producer.

The target, announced in a statement by Interior Minister Wilfredo Pedraza, represents a 57 percent increase on last year's goal of destroying 14,000 hectares of coca.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) calculated Peru's total area of coca cultivation to be 62,500 hectares in 2011, up from 61,200 in 2010, marking the sixth consecutive annual increase.

InSight Crime Analysis

This target is a rise from the government's previous goal of eradicting 16,000 hectares in 2013, announced by Pedraza in October. Over the last 15 years, annual coca eradication has gone no higher than 15,000 hectares.

It remains to be seen if increasing the level of coca eradication will have a significant impact on the number of hectares under cultivation. Coca growers have proven adept at shifting production; one trend identified by the UNODC report last year was the increase in coca crops in the Peruvian Amazon, an area previously believed to be unfit for coca plants to produce cocaine.

Another question is whether the government will indeed be able to reach its target. Eradication efforts face fierce opposition from Peru's coca growing unions, which are a powerful force in a country with an ancestral history of coca leaf chewing. A visit by Peru's coca eradication authority in August to the Monzon Valley, where with one of the greatest concentrations of coca crops in the country, resulted in a confrontation in which two people died.

Humala promised not to carry out forced eradication while on the campaign trail in 2011, but radically changed his policy since taking office, appointing pro-eradication Carmen Masias as his drug czar.

Under the country's current four-year strategy, announced in March 2012, eradication of coca crops will rise to 30,000 hectares in 2016, with the aim of bringing the area under cultivation down to 38,000 hectares by 2021.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ELITES AND CRIME / 10 DEC 2021

Authorities in Peru have dismantled a criminal network involving at least two government ministries. The corruption case underscores weak government…

BOLIVIA / 8 MAR 2023

InSight Crime reviews Latin America and the Caribbean's cocaine seizure date from 2022 to find out what it reveals about…

CHINA AND CRIME / 10 NOV 2021

A Peruvian governor is accused of receiving bribes to provide concessions to Chinese firms that trafficked illegal wood – an…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…