Andean farmers growing more coca leaves

COROICO, Bolivia, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Coca leaf production in the South American Andean nations is booming, thanks in part to a steep rise in cocaine demand from Brazil, local officials say.

The supply of Andean cocaine now exceeds that of the earlier industry boom in the 1990s despite billions of dollars in U.S. anti-drug money funneled to Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Poor farmers say they can't make ends meet by raising oranges or coffee, and so are turning to increased coca production, especially in Bolivia. There, President Evo Morales has moved to allow farmers to produce coca for ostensibly legitimate purposes such as tea and leaf chewing, the newspaper said.

U.S. officials dispute a United Nations report indicating a 16 percent increase in Andean coca production in 2007, saying the increase is merely the result of different methods of calculation and contending efforts to eradicate coca are working.

But others say Andean farmers are moving to satisfy the cocaine demand from the growing Brazilian middle class. Felipe Caceres, Bolivia's vice minister of social defense, said he is trying to fight smugglers along the Brazilian border, but "unfortunately, the demand of the drug in Brazil has increased spectacularly."