Researchers from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) aim to stop illegal growing of coca
FOR decades, Colombia’s lush jungle canopy has provided shelter for the country’s illicit cocaine trade and some of the world’s most infamous drugs lords.
Against a background of narcotics cartels run by super-rich criminals like Pablo Escobar, a five-decades armed conflict raged between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Now, however, a Scottish college is at the heart of efforts to persuade Colombia’s rural farmers to halt production of illegal coca crops and switch to growing “super” beans instead.
Researchers from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) are involved in three major projects aimed at tackling the triple challenges of the country’s cocaine production, climate change and deforestation.
It is hoped the SRUC work, currently focused in the southern Caquetá region – once the country’s cocaine heartland – will identify cultural and societal issues which lead to farmers opting to cultivate illegal crops, and help guide farmers across the country towards more sustainable food production.
Among the new farming practices they are being encouraged to adopt is the cultivation of bean crops specially developed with climate change in mind to be heat-tolerant, to deter pests, and fortified with iron or zinc.
Farmers are also being encouraged to introduce new plants for livestock feed which both capture carbon and avoid the loss of precious forest.
Research into why farmers grow illegal crops has brought researchers face to face with former guerrillas now trying to return to normal farming life, along with others trying to withdraw from years of working for the country’s drugs cartels.
But despite the apparent risks of working in drug cartel-operated areas, SRUC economist Dr Hernán Degiovanni said there appears to be an understanding among farmers and even traffickers of the need to introduce new farming methods.
“Farmers understand that if they grow coca crops they are at risk of losing that crop because it’s illegal. They are comparing the revenue from their illegal crop that can be lost, against revenue they receive from a legal crop,” he said.
“While the people in charge of the cocaine market and who make a lot of money from it, are not interested in us being there because they understand the need for the development of the area.
“They know coca is an industry that is a by-product of the lack of development of the region which they are exploiting. It’s the lack of development that leads to farmers to grow coca instead of legal crops.
“And they understand the need for legal crops – they have to eat too, and they want good beans.”
Meetings with farmers and ex-combatants carried out prior to the current pandemic which were intended to gain understanding of communities attitudes towards illegal crops and more sustainable farming, had been surprisingly open, he added. “People are welcoming and want to talk to us. What has shocked us is how open they have been about their involvement and past involvement in guerrilla groups. They talk about that quite openly.”