by Eric Lannak

Created on: May 05, 2008

Most drug-crops are raised by impoverished farmers who see no other way to improve their lives. In Bolivia and Afghanistan, they eagerly accept small payments (princely sums to them) for their labors. Drug-crop farming is tied to poverty, and the best policies would seek to raise these farmers by inducing them to grow other crops... profitably.

Coca is not a big cash crop in Bolivia (compared to Columbia) because of Bolivia's vigorous anti-cocaine policy. But the growing popularity of raising coca leaf for legitimate export (for tea, flavorings, etc.) makes it clear the farmers simply want a cash crop. They don't want to raise drugs, they want a living.

In Afghanistan, too, the farmers want to make a living. Now, they raise poppies, harvest opium, and sell it easily to "drug lords" who pay them diddly for their efforts. A few dollars may seem like nothing to us, but to a farmer living in a dirt-floor hut on an Afghani hillside, it seems like a princely sum.

There's an obvious solution: help farmers grow other crops that pay better. Current programs rely on suggesting, coaching, and training on alternate crops, but do not guarantee a price. We need to guarantee a price. Give them free seed for food crops when they make their sale of cash crops. Provide incentives to the government for creating a system to collect and ship the crops produced, based on tonnage.

A good start would be to promote a biofuel source that grows well in the local environment. Soy is already a big crop in Bolivia and would do well in Afghanistan, and soybean oil can be used in place of diesel fuel. Sugar beets (which can be turned into ethanol) grow well at higher altitude, and can replace some of the corn we are now redirecting from food channels for ethanol production. Both would do wonders to promote the health of the local populations, relieving rampant malnutrition.

This would provide the farmers with a lucrative crop that will not be destroyed by anti-drug efforts; it would involve local governments by paying them for their efforts; it would inspire local governments to improve their crop markets; it would provide food-crop seeds to farmers every year; and it would help the U.S. in it's attempts to reduce oil consumption by providing alternative energy crops without petroleum-intensive U.S. farming methods.

Further, the money currently spent on eradication and interdiction (with negligible effect) could ultimately fund this program. Crafting the initiatives with business partners could

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