MANIZALES: Colombia plans to increase its annual coffee production by almost 29 percent to 18 million 60-kg bags, thanks to crop renovation and the replacement of coca crops with coffee beans in once conflict-ridden areas, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday.
The government plans to renovate some 100,000 hectares of coffee plantations a year until 2024, Santos said. Alongside industry group the National Federation of Coffee Growers, it will also seek to move hundreds of families from growing coca crops to coffee.
The UN said in July that lands being used to cultivate coca in Colombia grew 52 percent last year to 146,000 hectares. Coca leaves are the base ingredient for cocaine.
"With these programs, cultivated areas will be increased to add one million bags to the coffee production of the country, plus three million through the revival plans ... so Colombia will be producing 18 million bags of coffee," Santos said during the closing of an annual coffee congress.
The Santos government signed a peace agreement with ex-guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) last year. The deal includes state investment in agriculture and crop substitution, as well as granting the former rebels a place in politics.
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