At dawn in Colombia’s countryside, the air hangs heavy with mist and contradiction. Green hills roll outward in every direction, fertile and alive, yet stitched through with a plant whose roots reach far beyond the soil. Coca grows quietly here, resilient and adaptable, thriving where roads fade and institutions thin. For decades, efforts to uproot it have been as cyclical as the seasons themselves.
The challenge has never been purely agricultural. Coca endures not because it is favored, but because it is reliable. In remote regions where markets are distant and state presence intermittent, the crop offers certainty in an uncertain landscape. Eradication campaigns have come and gone—by hand, by force, from the air—each leaving behind cleared fields that often, in time, turn green again.
In recent years, Colombia has shifted its gaze toward substitution rather than suppression. Programs encouraging farmers to replace coca with legal crops aim to trade fear for trust, offering infrastructure, credit, and access to markets in exchange for permanence. Yet progress moves slowly. Coffee, cacao, and fruit trees demand patience, stability, and roads that reliably lead somewhere. Without these, promises can feel as fragile as seedlings in poor soil.
The dilemma rests in balance. Too heavy a hand risks alienating communities already living on the margins; too light a touch allows cultivation to expand quietly. Armed groups, trafficking networks, and global demand continue to exert pressure, shaping choices long before a farmer steps into the field.
Colombia’s coca problem resists simple solutions because it is bound to land, livelihoods, and history. Uprooting the crop requires more than removal—it asks for presence, consistency, and time. Until the alternatives take root as deeply as coca has, the fields will remain a mirror of the country’s unfinished struggle between survival and transformation.
AI Image Disclaimer Illustrations were created using AI tools and are not real photographs.
Sources Reuters, The Guardian, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, BBC, Colombian Ministry of Agriculture