LA PAZ, Bolivia, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Coca crop cultivation fell in Bolivia for the second year in 2012, a survey by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and the Bolivian government indicated.
In 2012, cultivation of coca bush dropped by about 7 percent in Bolivia, with an estimated 25,300 hectares, down from about 27,200 hectares in the previous year -- which reflected a 12 percent decline from 2010, the U.N. unit said Monday in a release.
"UNODC will continue to offer its support to these efforts of ... Bolivia, facilitating and promoting regional and international cooperation for the benefit of the entire society," Antonino De Leo, the drug office's representative in Bolivia, said.
The Vienna-based U.N. drug agency said declines were reported in Yungas de La Paz, Cochabamba Tropics and the northern La Paz provinces, Bolivia's three largest coca-producing regions.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime attributed the decline in coca cultivation to a combination of government-led eradication efforts, dialogue with farmers and social incentives.
The potential coca leaf yield in Bolivia was estimated at about 45,000 metric tons, down 6 percent from the previous year's total of 48,100 metric tons, the U.N. agency said. As a result, the value of coca leaf dropped 7 percent from $353 million in 2011 to $332 million in 2012.
