La Paz and Coripata (Bolivia)July 2 (EFE) The increase in crops Coca leaf and “free sale” have had an impact on the price decrease in bolivian to the point that producers in legal areas complain that their income barely covers their food and many have gone to work in gold mining.
About three years ago, the price of a “taque” of coca, a compressed package of about 50 pounds, was at least 2,500 bolivianos (260 dollars or 238 euros), now it costs an average of 1,500 bolivianos (215 dollars or 197 euros ).
The manager of the Departmental Association of Coca Producers (Adepcoca), Edwin Cornejo, explained to EFE that before “the partner-producer (with the sale of coca) had to pay his bills in the banks, to enroll his children in the university, (but) at present it no longer gives (is not enough)”.
Adepcoca brings together some 40,000 coca growers from the Los Yungas area in the department of La Paz, one of the two Bolivian regions next to the Cochabamba tropics that are recognized by law for trade in the plant.
The use of coca leaves in the country is oriented to medicine, rituals and mainly to “chew” or chewed as a food supplement that alleviates hunger and fatigue.
planting and marketing
A coca leaf crop in Los Yungas is ready for harvest after three months, with which a product “with characteristic nutritional quality, color and size” is achieved, said coca grower leader Roly Aguilar.
The plantations are in the ravines of the hills, on oblique terrain, where the grass and stones have previously been extracted to later form a kind of bleachers in which the furrows are enabled for the planting of the shrub.
Coca production includes, after the harvest, drying in the sun, selection according to the size and uniform color of the leaves, which ultimately defines its quality and cost.
Aguilar mentioned that for some years there has been an “aesthetic” demand from the consumer, so that a pound of small leaves is worth about 20 bolivianos (almost 3 dollars or 2.7 euros), but if they are large and “without stains” that value will be doubles.
Susana Nina, a coca farmer for more than 30 years, told EFE that consumers now want a “special” product and that they even touch and smell the sheets before buying them.
She complained because the sale is no longer good and she believes that only with the eradication of surplus plantations “will (the price of) coca improve.”
Besides, He mentioned that the work in the coca plantations is increasingly “more difficult” since the money “is not enough” not even to eat well.
Causes of the comedown
The cocalero Erlin Pari considered that the law that since 2017 expanded the surface of legal crops from 12,000 to 22,000 hectares, “the entry (to Bolivia) of Peruvian coca” and the “excess” planting, even “in national parks” are the causes of the price drop.
Pari indicated that many cocaleros have left that activity and now work in the various artisanal gold mines installed in the riverbeds of Los Yungas.
In November of last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc) in its annual report indicated that coca leaf crops in Bolivia increased from 29,400 hectares in 2020 to 30,500 hectares in 2021.
For the manager of Adepcoca, the authorization of the Government for the operation of some “informal markets”, which has increased the “free sale” of the coca leaf, has also complicated the situation of traditional producers.
A study by Adepcoca for its members established that the “production cost” of a pound of coca leaf is 19.74 bolivianos (2.8 dollars or 2.5 euros), the minimum for its members to recover the investment.
Cornejo explained that on this basis, producers can define a “profit margin”, but that in many cases the profit is minimal and only covers what is necessary.
Source: Gestion
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