Perea’s gamble: from coca to cassava and back again
In a remote corner of Meta, barely reachable by river, farmer Miguel Perea once believed he could end his life’s dependency on coca, the raw plant that feeds the global cocaine trade. He uprooted the green bushes, replaced them with crops such as cassava and plantain, and signed up for Colombia’s National Comprehensive Programme for the Substitution of Illicit Crops (PNIS).
The programme promised legal‑crop farmers financial support, agronomic advice and a chance to build a sustainable livelihood. However, many payments were delayed, roads were non‑existent and floods routinely destroyed harvests. Faced with mounting debts and an inability to sell his produce, Perea returned to planting coca in 2024, saying, “If no help ever arrives, you go back to growing it.”
Some small communities report improvements, with farmers receiving assistance that begins to knock down coca‑related violence. Yet analysts point out that the continuing global demand for cocaine keeps coca cultivation rising, and that security vacillations in rural areas make substitution programmes difficult to implement.
Perea’s words epitomise the dilemma of countless Colombian farmers: “The state has completely abandoned us.” Their lived experience shows that without reliable, timely support, turning away from coca is a gamble with no rigourous safety net. Only comprehensive infrastructure upgrades, digital connectivity and diversified income streams could change this cycle.
Until then, many will keep planting “the coca business,” for it is the only viable option on the table.
