Peru town abandons coca crops

Peru has long been one of the world's largest producers of coca, the plant often used to produce cocaine.

It figures alongside Afghanistan, Columbia and Mexico in the list of countries where growing plants that can yield narcotics is a multibillion-dollar industry.

Although Peru has seen a recent surge in the coca production, a United Nations initiative is helping farmers in the city of Tocache abandon coca and find alternative crops.

Officials think they can replicate the town's success in other farming areas.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland reports.

[March 2, 2010]