Elena Hernández moved to the coca growing area of Guaviare during the boom of the 1990s, lured by better wages.
“It had a lot of money back then – you could see it everywhere,” he said. “I was able to save and buy a small house.”
But the coca industry also brought violence and insecurity. Armed groups are fighting for control, while the government is trying to curb production through manual extermination, airlifts and arrests.
These efforts cut the income of families but failed to stop planting.
So when a nationwide reform 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 by quitting coca.
Each household was to receive 36m Colombian pesos ($11,000; £8,000), distributed over a two-year period.
Hernández says: “The way it was presented, it seemed very promising for the development of our field.
The program, known as the Comprehensive National Program for the Replacement of Illicit Plants (PNIS), was born out of the 2016 peace agreement between the government and Colombia’s largest terrorist group, the Farc.
In exchange for uprooting their coca plants, farmers will also receive technical support, including agronomists, and advice on soil management.
Although replacement programs existed in the past, they remained limited in scope. PNIS was the most ambitious effort to date – and at first it seemed to work.
In the southern parts of Meta and Guaviare, coca plantations are replaced by lemon trees, banana plants and small livestock farms. Many farmers, like Hernández, distance themselves from coca.
However, that doesn’t mean they consider it a success.
“The government was not very committed to us farmers. We were treated badly,” explained Hernández, pointing to problems that arose early on.
Payments are delayed, and technical support often fails to materialize. A weak rural environment and poor communication between agencies meant that support often did not reach communities.
The momentum behind the program weakened as political priorities shifted. Iván Duque, who became Colombia’s president in 2018, again focused on the government’s crackdown and security strategy.
When current President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022, PNIS was lagging behind and struggling to reach communities.
But some farmers have reported progress. For Doralba Bejarano, from Puerto Rico south of Meta, her situation improved as support began to arrive.
“Before the program, we were scared,” he said. “We had to hide the coca paste because the police, the military, will put us in jail.” Coca paste is the most concentrated form of coca used to produce cocaine, allowing farmers to earn more money than selling green leaves.
Now, he says, he has peace of mind: “I go wherever I want. I have no reason to hide.”
He says that many in his community are now receiving government funding to promote and sell their non-coca crops and other foods.
