VIENNA, June 14 (UPI) -- The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime is appealing for funding of alternative livelihood programs after seeing a 3 percent increase in Andean coca cultivation.
"Member States need to step up to this challenge in tangible ways, especially in Europe, where one-third of the Andean cocaine is actually consumed," Antonia Costa, executive director of the UNODC said Tuesday, unveiling the 2004 Andean Coca Surveys for Bolivia, Columbia and Peru. Coca can be processed into cocaine.
Costa pointed to recent success in existing alternative livelihood programs. He said palm oil producers in Peru have earned three times as much as coca farmers and specialty coffee growers in Columbia have earned 1.5 times more.
Encouraging farmers to cultivate legitimate crops is most successful in a finacially stable environment, said Costa, which ultimately helps stabilize the region.
Despite the increase, the survey results show that, overall, land devoted to coca farming has decreased by one-third since 2000.
