USAID
Fact Sheet: Alternative Development, April 2, 2001
U.S.
AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FACT SHEET
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-4320
2001-014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2001
Contact: USAID Press
Office
Alternative development
is a cost-effective means to permanently eliminate the production of coca
and opium poppy. USAID's goal is to eliminate 3,000 hectares of opium
poppy and 30,000 hectares of coca. USAID's contribution to the five-year
Colombian program of drug elimination and sustainable development of production
and marketing of legal crops is estimated at $222 million, of which, $53
million has been provided since FY 1999. For alternative development to
be sustainable, access to licit markets must be complemented by the presence
of civil government, adequate public security, and delivery of health
and education.
Poppy
- Opium poppy is
grown primarily on mountain slopes by small farmers that usually have
one hectare or less of this illicit crop with 2-3 more hectares of food
or other licit crops.
- In the mountains
of Tolima province, 12 small farmer associations have agreed to eliminate
675 hectares of opium poppy.
- The National Plan
for Alternative Development (PLANTE) is helping farmers there to plant
600 hectares of licit crops, mostly beans for local markets and blackberry
and other fruits for juice that will be sold in Colombian markets.
In southern Cauca, 9 small farmer associations have agreed to eliminate
45 hectares of opium poppy. Farmers are receiving assistance to improve
95 hectares of licit crops, principally organic coffee for export.
Coca
- Coca bushes grow
at low altitudes throughout Colombia. Small farmers who produce coca
usually have 3 hectares or less of the illicit crop, with 3-10 hectares
of pasture or licit crops.
- In Putumayo, Plante
has obtained agreements with 2,650 small producers that will result
in the voluntary elimination of 5,150 hectares of coca near Puerto Asis
and Orito. Further agreements are expected by the end of April 2001
for additional voluntary eradication, for a total of 10,200 hectares
to be permanently eliminated . USAID technical assistance will assist
these farmers though the provision of licit cash crop alternatives.
- Also in Putumayo,
PLANTE plans to arrange approximately twenty agreements with small farmers
for the voluntary elimination of coca, using Government of Colombia
resources.
- After the agreement
is signed, PLANTE provides farmers with food crop seeds and plants in
a public event. At this point, farmers are obliged to begin to uproot
their coca.
- As eradication
progresses, PLANTE assists the farmers with USAID-financed licit cash
crops, including food crops for local sale and crops for shipment to
other Colombian markets.
- Complete elimination
of coca is required within 12 months after the initial delivery of food
crop seeds and plants.
- Assistance for
the production of heart of palm has begun, with an estimated USAID investment
of $180,000.
- Assistance provided
to indigenous communities for food crops, medicinal plants, and other
crops totals $505,000.
- Alternative development
programs are complemented by municipal development and activities for
internally displaced persons.
USAID is applying
lessons in Colombia that were learned in Peru and Bolivia
- Alternative development
is part of a coordinated approach that includes interdiction of trafficking
and involuntary crop eradication. In Bolivia, this eradication was done
manually by the army, while in Colombia, it is being done by aerial
spraying. Both interdiction and involuntary eradication disrupt markets,
raising costs for traffickers who then lower the farmgate price offered
to farmers.
- One motivator
for acceptance of alternative development is the farmers' perception
that drug crop production is accompanied by offensive social effects.
This view is most strongly held among indigenous communities, where
cultural survival is an important theme. Farmers view illicit drug production
as bringing increased drug and alcohol use, loss of work ethic, increased
prostitution, and violence.
- Alternative development
must provide two economic stimuli to a small farmer. First, it must
cushion the short-term loss of income due to eradication of coca. In
Peru, this required delivery of emergency food aid in 1997-8, due to
the rapid success of interdiction in driving down the price of coca
leaf. Second, alternative development must provide a reliable source
of licit income. Due to drug market disruption by interdiction and eradication,
licit income does not have to replace a farmer's coca income dollar
for dollar.
- Small farmers
maintain a diversified crop mix, both in food crops for home consumption
and in cash crops. To them, coca and poppy are merely cash crops that
are especially profitable and without serious problems of transportation
or spoilage.
- These farmers
usually require several years of dependable governance and access to
licit markets before they decide to permanently remove coca or poppy
as a possible crop option.
- A national government
must have programs prepared in anticipation of rapid reduction in coca
incomes, as seen in Peru. Manual eradication is slower than aerial spraying,
but both eventually cause dissatisfaction due the loss of income from
the illicit coca or poppy.
- A national government
must build and maintain a consensus among local governments and civil
society on drug eradication. This consensus is especially important
at the beginning of the program, and at the very end, when the least
cooperative growers are having their crops eradicated.
As of April 18, 2002,
this document was also available online at http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2001/fs010402.html
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