Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia Page: 2 of 11
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cultivation and eradication, respectively. ONDCP completed its study in June 2002
and made a number of recommendations to improve both estimates.
In your letter to us, you noted the differing coca estimates for Colombia. In
subsequent discussions with your staff, we agreed to determine the (1) purposes of
CNC's coca cultivation estimate and the Office of Aviation's coca eradication
estimate in Colombia and (2) status of actions to implement the ONDCP study's
recommendations. To address these objectives, we reviewed relevant documentation
and met with cognizant officials from ONDCP, CNC, and the Office of Aviation.
Results in Brief
The coca cultivation estimate prepared by CNC and the coca eradication estimate
prepared the Office of Aviation in Colombia serve different purposes and cannot be
readily reconciled to one another because of differences in their respective
methodologies.
* Annually, CNC develops cultivation estimates for coca, opium poppy, and
marijuana in drug-producing countries around the world. These are published
each March as part of the President's determination whether to continue
providing U.S. assistance to major drug-producing and -transit countries. To
prepare its estimates, CNC analyzes black and white high-resolution photographs
taken primarily from satellites covering a representative sample of the target
country's known or suspected drug-growing areas. This allows CNC to estimate
illicit drug cultivation for the entire country. In Colombia, these images are
usually taken, weather permitting, between November and January of each year.
Because these cultivation estimates are used by other U.S. government agencies
to help determine the amount of illicit drugs available for consumption in the
United States, CNC focuses on identifying fields of healthy coca plants with leaves
that are suitable for processing into cocaine.
* As part of its support for the Colombian National Police, the Office of Aviation
uses airborne digital cameras to photograph coca fields for targeting aerial
spraying and, afterwards, to help estimate the number of hectares eradicated.
Through computer analysis, the Office of Aviation analyzes the light reflecting off
the vegetation to identify coca. The digital photos can be taken anytime weather
permits and are targeted over areas where the Colombian National Police intends
to conduct or has conducted aerial eradication operations. Also, because the
Office of Aviation wants to identify any coca fields for aerial eradication, it
includes coca seedlings and mature, damaged, and dead plants in its definition of
a coca field.
The June 2002 ONDCP study recommended, among other things, that CNC and the
Office of Aviation reconcile their definitions of a coca field, develop an error rate for
each estimate, and enhance the technologies used for developing the respective
estimates. Both CNC and Office of Aviation officials said they are in the process of
implementing many of these recommendations, though the Office of Aviation saidGAO-03-319R Coca Estimates in Colombia
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United States. General Accounting Office. Drug Control: Coca Cultivation and Eradication Estimates in Colombia, text, January 8, 2003; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc302161/m1/2/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.