This farmer wanted to quit the cocaine industry - he couldn't

What the report says

BBC World News reports from Meta, Colombia, that some farmers who joined Colombia’s efforts to replace coca — the leaf used to make cocaine — say they have returned to the crop because promised state support was delayed, incomplete or failed to reach remote communities. The report focuses on a farmer identified as Perea, who uprooted coca and planted legal crops such as cassava and plantain, but said poor transport links, flooding and lack of financial help made those alternatives hard to sustain. He began planting coca again in 2024.

The article places his case within Colombia’s National Comprehensive Programme for the Substitution of Illicit Crops, known as PNIS, launched after the 2016 peace deal with the Farc guerrilla movement. BBC says around 100,000 families joined the programme, which offered payments totaling 36 million Colombian pesos per household over two years, plus technical assistance. Some participants, including farmer Doralba Bejarano in southern Meta, reported improvements and greater security after leaving coca, while others described late payments and weak follow-through.

BBC cites researchers and officials who say coca remains attractive because it can be harvested several times a year, is easier to transport than many legal crops, and has a more predictable market. The report says coca cultivation in Colombia has reached record levels above 250,000 hectares, while global demand, armed-group control in rural areas and fragile security conditions complicate substitution efforts.

President Gustavo Petro’s government is now piloting a new programme, RenHacemos, intended to expand beyond crop replacement by supporting roads, education, connectivity, housing and local economic diversification. Analysts quoted by BBC remain cautious about whether such programmes can produce lasting change.