Thoughts on the development of an alternative to coca cultivation in Andean America

The cultivation of coca (Erythroxylum coca Lam.), a perennial shrub of the order Geraniales, goes back to ancient times in Bolivia and Peru, but its extension over wide areas is quite recent, beginning around 1960, with a period of strong expansion between 1975 and 1985 (coca boom). In 1992, it then started to decline in Bolivia and Peru, but continued to progress in Colombia, with an intensification of the crops. The integrated (alternative) development policies implemented over the last decade have had positive consequences for infrastructures (roads, public health facilities, education), but have had little success in replacing illicit crops with legal cash crops, primarily for market and price reasons. As a result, the forced eradication operations carried out to make up for the deficit have created serious social conflicts. The socio-economic situations in regions affected by illicit crops, and those in regions with production potential, may be very different depending on the country and the continent. Nevertheless, controlling illicit crops needs to be conceived in terms other than repression, and agricultural development needs to be proposed in terms other than prices and competitiveness. That means introducing fairer policies and markets, so that farmers are not marginalized and do not turn to illegal production