Coffee is one of the most popular drinks on Earth. Coffee instead of heroin: how the UN helps farmers start a legitimate business Economic development
As part of a large-scale program, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) helps farmers who grow opium and coca repurpose their production for the cultivation of legal products. We are talking about coffee…
At the initial stage, illegal drugs are raw materials grown by farmers: opium poppy is used to produce heroin, coca is used to create cocaine. Growing such a crop is a troublesome, not very profitable and dangerous business: farmers have to communicate with drug dealers, and you can end up in prison for your work.
In search of an alternative, farmers in many regions are switching to producing beans to create a favorite drink all over the world and, most importantly, legal – coffee. With support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), farmers from Myanmar to Peru, Afghanistan to Bolivia and Laos to Colombia have begun growing coffee beans in fields previously used for illicit crops.
In this video, UNODC spokesperson Laura Gil-Martinez explains how it all works.