COLOMBIA, the world’s biggest cocaine producer, set a new record last year for manufacture of the drug and cultivation of the coca leaf it is made from, a United Nations report said yesterday.

Coca leaf cultivation was 13% higher last year than in 2021 – spreading more than 230,000ha – while cocaine production rose from 1,400 tonnes to 1,738, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

These were the highest numbers since the UN started monitoring the data in 2001, beating the record set in 2021. Most Colombian cocaine finds its way to the United States and Europe.

Nearly two-thirds of coca crops are grown in the southern departments of Narino and Putumayo bordering Ecuador, which is battling a scourge of drug gang-related violence, and in North Santander on the border with Venezuela.

Nearly half of drug crops are found in Indigenous reserves, some 10% in forest reserves and 5% in natural parks, according to the report. – AFP, September 12, 2023.