This farmer wanted to quit the cocaine industry – he couldn’t
Elena Hernández moved to the coca-growing region of Guaviare during the 1990s boom, lured by better wages.
“There was more money back then; you could see it everywhere,” he says. “I managed to save it and buy a small house.”
But the coca industry also brought violence and insecurity. While armed groups fought for control, the government tried to halt production through manual eradication, aerial spraying, and arrests.
These efforts cut families’ incomes but failed to halt agriculture.
So when a nationwide substitution program was launched by the then-government in 2017, Hernández was eager to sign up, joining nearly 100,000 families who were promised financial support in exchange for switching away from cocaine.
Each household will receive 36 million Colombian pesos ($11,000; £8,000) spread over a two-year period.
“The way it was presented to us seemed very promising for the development of our region,” says Hernández.
The program, known as the Comprehensive National Program for the Substitution of Illegal Crops (PNIS), grew out of a 2016 peace agreement between the government and the Farc, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group.
In exchange for removing coca plants, farmers will receive technical support, including from agricultural experts, and advice on soil management.
Although substitution programs have existed before, they were limited in scale. PNIS was the most ambitious initiative to date, and at first it appeared to be working.
In parts of southern Meta and Guaviare, coca plantations have been replaced by lemon trees, banana plants and small livestock farms. Many farmers like Hernández stayed away from coca.
But that doesn’t mean they see it as a success.
“The government wasn’t very committed to us farmers. We were treated badly,” explains Hernández, pointing to problems that emerged early on.
Payments were delayed and technical support was often unavailable. Weak state presence in rural areas and poor coordination between institutions meant that support often did not reach communities.
The momentum behind the program weakened as political priorities changed. Iván Duque, who became Colombia’s president in 2018, refocused the government’s approach to destruction and security strategies.
When current President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022, PNIS was behind schedule and struggling to reach communities.
However, some farmers reported improvements. The situation of Doralba Bejarano from Puerto Rico in South Meta improved as stalled support began to arrive.
“We were very scared before the program,” he says. “We had to hide the coca paste because the police and army would put us in jail.” Coca paste is a more concentrated form of coca used to produce cocaine, allowing growers to earn more from selling raw leaves.
He says he now has peace of mind: “I can go wherever I want. I have no reason to hide.”
He says many in his community now receive government support to promote and sell crops other than coca and other foodstuffs.
