Cocaine production has 'exploded' in 2023 in Colombia, setting a new record with a 53% increase, according to a joint report by the Colombian government and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The area planted with coca "as of December 31 was 253,000 hectares (23,000 more than in 2022), while the production of pure cocaine hydrochloride rose to 2,664 tones, compared to 1,738 tones in 2022," the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) detailed in its report released on Friday in Bogotá.
"Unlike the increase (in harvests) between 2021 and 2022, which was strongly concentrated in the department of Putumayo, in this period the growth was more widespread," it reads.
The figures indicate that "16 of the 19 departments with coca showed an increasing trend" and that "Cauca and Nariño were the most affected".
The 15 productive enclaves remain, which concentrated 39% of the area planted with coca in only 14% of the regions with crops in 2023.
"Only San Pablo-Taracué (in the department of Bolívar) reduced its area with coca by 3% compared to 2022", highlighted the authors of the document.
The report warned of expansion zones, that is, those where coca crops began to be registered in the last three years.
"40% of the territories in this category are located in the Pacific region, with Cauca and Chocó being the departments that mostly have new plots, but not dispersed, but forming clusters with planting densities still higher than 12 hectares/square kilometers, that is, conditions similar to those reported in productive enclaves that are highly complex intervention scenarios", they also highlighted.
In addition, it was specified that in the departments of Norte de Santander, Nariño, Cauca and Putumayo there are coca crops exceeding 30,000 hectares.
Regarding the potential for cocaine production, the UNODC indicated that it reached 2,664 tons in 2023, 53% more than in 2022, when it was 1,738 tons, and in 2021 when it was 1,400 tons.
"This measurement refers to pure cocaine and is based on the assumption that all hectares planted are harvested for cocaine production. The data does not discount the 746 tones of cocaine (unknown purity) that were seized by Colombian authorities in 2023," the report's authors clarified.
UNODC stressed that in the different regions, mainly outside the usual coca-growing areas, the sale prices of coca leaf derivatives (paste and cocaine base) are "reaching historically low levels and in others there is even no market due to a lack of buyers".
In any case, they stressed that "89.5% of coca is in the same territories where it has been for the last 10 years. However, the differentiation between areas of concentration and deconcentration continues to increase".
In this regard, UNODC highlighted that 48% of coca is located in special management areas, such as national natural parks (4%), indigenous reserves (10%), forest reserves (14%) and lands of black communities (20%).
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