Peru’s coca leaf farming expands along border, reaches record area

Peru’s land dedicated to the cultivation of coca leaves grew 18% to record highs in 2022, the country’s anti-drug chief said Monday, notably in protected
lands and indigenous Amazon villages close to the borders with Brazil and Colombia.
Coca leaves, the raw ingredient for cocaine, is traditionally chewed for energy or as an antidote for altitude sickness and is legal for such uses.
However, analysts and government officials estimate some 90% of Peru’s crop is used in the illicit drug trade and its cultivation has been growing yearly since 2015.
Coca covered 95,008 hectares (367 square miles) last year, said Carlos Figueroa, president of the national DEVIDA drugs commission, marking what analysts deem the largest figure in at least two decades.