BOGOTA, July 14 (Reuters) - A crash in the price of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine, is contributing to food insecurity in Colombia and causing displacement, as people leave areas that depend on the illicit crop, according to an internal United Nations presentation seen by Reuters.
Historically coca crops have provided better incomes than legal alternatives for thousands of rural Colombian families, with drug-trafficking groups often footing the costs of transport, fertilizers and other supplies.
"There is no cash to buy food and the inflation of (food prices) is rising," the presentation, dated June, said.
Oversupply of coca - including more productive plants and record crops - is contributing to the crash, along with slow growth of trafficking routes and new coca cultivation in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, the presentation said.
Other reasons for falling coca prices include territorial disputes between trafficking groups and imports of synthetic opioid fentanyl to the United States, a major cocaine consumer, it added.
Persons:
Valerin Saurith, It's, Saurith, Elizabeth Dickinson, Dickinson, Oliver Griffin, Aurora Ellis
Organizations:
Reuters, United Nations, Food Programme, WFP, Norte de Santander, International Crisis, Thomson
Locations:
BOGOTA, Colombia, Nations, Colombian, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, United States, Narino, Putumayo, Norte