May
13, 2013
Coffee
producers in Bolivia are abandoning coffee to cultivate coca, says the head of
the country's coffee federation, illustrating the appeal of a crop that is less
susceptible to wide price fluctuations on global commodity markets.
According
to Susana Lima, Secretary General of the Federation of Bolivia's
Export Coffee Growers (Fecafeb), Bolivia is now exporting 70,000 bags of coffee
per year compared to 110,000 in 2005, and this number is continuing to decline.
Lima said that growing coffee has become less profitable as a result of the
aging of coffee plantations and a lack of government incentives. As coffee
profits decline, coffee producers are turning to coca crops as an alternative,
she added.
A 2012 study reported
the same phenomenon among food producers in the municipality of Yanacachi,
who were turning away from traditional farming in favor of coca crop
monoculture and gold mining.
Meanwhile there are indications the
commercialization of coca for legal uses, encouraged by Bolivian
President Evo Morales, is faltering. Following the closure of two coca production
plants financed by Morales in the central Cochabamba province, the country's
Vice-Minister of Coca, Dionisio Nuñez told
news agencies, "Regrettably the public is not accustomed to
products made from coca."
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As shown by the numerous
failures in "crop substitution" programs, a major part of
the appeal of coca cultivation is that coca is less susceptible to the wide
fluctuations in global commodity prices that can decimate small farmers
operating with fine profit margins.
Just last year, the number of
Bolivian farmers switching from coca to coffee was being heralded
as a major success, albeit a success dependent on global coffee
prices, which have
since crashed. It seems probable this decline in coffee
profitability is fueling a renewal of coca cultivation.
Falling prices of traditional legal
exports, such as cocoa, have also helped
spur coca cultivation in Colombia, while
sinking coffee prices have sparked social unrest.