Colombia world's top cocaine producer

The cultivation of the coca crop in Colombia has hit record levels for two years in a row, making the country the world's major producer of cocaine, according to the US State Department's annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.

The report says the area under coca cultivation, grew 39 percent in 2014 and 42 percent in 2015, to 159,000 hectares (ha). The increase was the largest single-year spike on record and could be attributed to a number of factors.

Sources of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo explained the country could have seen an area as large as 200,000 ha (494,211 acres) under coca cultivation in 2016.

The area of Illicit coca cultivation in Colombia was followed by Peru which saw an increase to 53,000 ha, and Bolivia with 36,500 ha.

Two years ago the Colombian government halted aerial spraying of the crop, concerned that the...