Friday, 6 March 2015

Discouraging coca cultivation in Columbia

A waste of time and effort?






Helpful to achieve the objective


Harmful to achieve the objective

Internal

Strengths


Weakness

External

Opportunities


Threats




Strengths

-War on drugs (destroy the plantations of coca plants)


-in 2000 – 1000 tonnes of cocaine annually


-in 2010 – less than 300 tonnes of cocaine annually


-in 2000 – 170000 hectares of coca bushes


-in 2010 – 75000 hectares of coca bushes


Weakness

-Columbian government has no authority:

*left wing guerrillas (FARC)

*right wing paramilitary  groups



-environmental pollution (spraying & toxic materials).


-Farmers cannot make a living from legal agricultural activities, coca cultivation creates jobs and income for all the coca farmers in remote rural areas.


- +- 1.2 % of Columbia’s GDP is spent every year on the war on drugs (1 billion dollars).


Opportunities

-American support (also European support).



-US provides 1.3 billion dollars mainly in military aid, to help fight the drug barons.


-US provides military helicopters.


-US organised a training program for  3 special army battalions. The special army battalion try to clear the area of drug traffickers.


Threats

-the demand for cocaine in the US is extremely high. For example most Columbian heroin is destined for the US Market.



-the international crisis in the coffee world is tempting small coffee farmers to turn to growing the coca plant.


-Farmers in Columbia go bankrupt because they can’t compete with subsidised agricultural products imported from Europe and the US.