Colombia's Coca Farmers Trade Violence for Palm Oil Profits

Colombian farmers are abandoning coca leaf cultivation for palm oil production, thanks to government subsidies and tax incentives. Yoger Payares, a farmer in northern Colombia, grew coca leaves for over a decade but switched to palm oil after seeing the benefits it brought to his family.

'It was difficult to be living here and not be involved in coca,' Payares said, adding that growing coca 'solved my money problems.'

Today, nearly 90% of San Pablo's oil palm growers are independent smallholders who have seen their incomes improve. The Colombian government has been encouraging the shift from coca to alternative crops like oil palm and cacao since 1995.

'Things are calmer,' Payares said of growing oil palm. 'I can live safely.'