Vienna — The UN and Bogota signed a major pact on Friday to uproot Colombia’s booming cocaine business, as part of ongoing peace efforts between the government and drug trade-controlling rebels. The deal, worth $315m (€270m) aims to wean farmers off growing coca — the raw material for cocaine — by replacing it with safer crops such as coffee and cacao. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said it was an initiative to free rural communities from the clutches of drug dealers. Colombia is ranked by the UN as the world’s biggest producer of coca. Its growing area rose by a staggering 52% to 146,000ha last year. "This historical agreement is a unique opportunity to turn the tide against Colombia’s coca cultivation and help farmers embrace alternative development," UNODC head Yury Fedotov said in a statement. Colombia’s special post-conflict envoy Rafael Pardo Rueda hailed the project as "fundamental" for the implementation of a historic peace deal sealed in June between Bogota and th...
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