US president Donald Trump has told Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque that aerial spraying to destroy coca crops must resume to sustain the crackdown on drugs.
The coca crops are a primary ingredient in the production of the recreational drug cocaine.
The Colombian authorities had commenced with the aerial spraying of coca crops in order to destroy them, as part of its campaign to tackle cocaine production locally. The US provides the Colombian government with around $400 million per year to help.
However, Colombia's aerial spraying operations were suspended five years ago after a court declared that the glyphosate herbicide used to kill the crops was carcinogenic and could cause pollution.
But now, Trump has informed Duque: "Well, you're going to have to spray. If you don't spray, you're not going to get rid of them. So you have to spray, with regard to the drugs in Colombia.”
Duque said that the country would "combine all the options available" to deal with the problem, including destroying the crops by hand.
In August 2019, President Duque said the Colombian government would implement a new anti-drug policy, hoping to deliver "concrete results" within four years.
Colombia is the largest producer of cocaine worldwide, with a 2018 UN report suggesting that the proportion of agricultural land being used to harvest coca crops has now hit record levels.
The crop mostly thrives in the Colombian regions closest to the Pacific.
