EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF PROJECT
"SOCIALIZATION OF THE COCA LEAF"
Substitutive use for food purposes
PACKAGING AS HERBAL TEA
BACKGROUND
Coca use among American indigenous peoples dates
back 12,000 years, as shown by divers studies. Archeological excavations
carried out in Tierradentro, Cauca, indicate its use here 5,000 years ago.
Coca is one of the foundations of the indigenous
communities' religious life; it plays a large role in the members' eating
habits and sociability. It is therefore inconceivable to even think about
the possibility of eliminating it.
Legislation prior to the 1991 Constitution recognizes
these traditional uses of Coca and guarantees its use for these purposes.
The 1991 Constitution further lays down norms which reinforce this acknowledgment
of the values of native cultures. International conventions regarding precursor
plants also confirm the right to these uses.
The "Coca Tea Proposal" thereby seeks to repossess
a custom which was widespread among the Colombian population, namely the
drinking of Coca Tea.
COCA IN TIERRADENTRO
In Tierradentro, municipalities of Inzá and
Paez, according to estimates by the Municipal Units for Agricultural Attention
(UMATA), if all of the existing Coca plants were grouped together, the
area planted would not exceed 20 hectares. Our community estimates that
it is not over 18 hectares.
In Tierradentro there are no coca plantations
as such. There are Coca shrubs which are located in the Nasa Tül,
the domain reserved exclusively for agricultural exploitation.
Under the circumstances, it seems unreasonable
to propose an eradication or substitution project for the Calderas Cabildo
(council) considering that, for the 40,000 individuals that constitute
this indigenous community, the number of Coca shrubs planted are a mere
0,5 per person. In which case, the social eradication pacts are of slight
interest as regards this community since government entities charged with
Coca eradication reach agreements with other communities that address the
elimination of 10,000 to 20,000 hectares.
Tierradentro's social and economic characteristics
do not allow for the zone to be considered
coquera (coca zone),
that which is defined as an area where the mainstay of the economy is the
production of illicit substances, and where family income comes from growing
precursor plants for the production of cocaine.
LOCATION OF THE PROJECT
Tierradentro is the northeastern part of the Cauca
Department. It is made up by the municipalities [the main legal and political
administrative circumscription with a mayor and a council] of Páez
and Inzá. It is the settlement of the Nasa indigenous peoples. The
Tierradentro territory covers an area of 2,695 square kilometers, of which
approximately 1,509 are indigenous territory.
The Resguardo de Calderas is located in the Municipio
de Inzá. [Resguardo is territory which belongs to the communities
themselves as opposed to a reserva whose lands belong to the nation].
ERADICATION OR PREVENTION
It is not possible to eradicate the Coca from the
indigenous communities on the following grounds:
-
For cultural reasons. This argument weighs heavily
to explain why it is impossible to eradicate the Coca, a plant which is
essential to the Nasa culture. Coca is important to Nasa rituals, in which
it plays a key role in the community's cosmovision (view of the universe)
as it is used, among others, by the Të W'alas (traditional
holy
men) to communicate with the forces of nature. It is also essential as
of its therapeutic uses and applications.
-
For legal reasons, the "Estatuto de Estupefacientes"
(narcotics legislation), particularly section 7, stipulates that indigenous
peoples have the right to plant Coca crops in excess of that which is considered
a plantation. Accordingly, the law allows these Coca crops, and thus eradicating
Coca from indigenous territory would infringe existing legislation. Furthermore,
through the Ministry of Health, important legislation has been enacted
to promote and stimulate the use of traditional medicines and alternative
therapies in order to fulfill the constitutional precepts which oblige
the Colombian state to protect the nation's ethnic and cultural diversity1.
On the other hand, the norms enacted
by the 1991 Constitution go even further and incorporate international
treaties, such as Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization
(ILO) Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries
(1989) —which recognizes and allows for the promotion of the autochthonous
curative practices of these communities, among other principles— and paragraph
2, article 17 of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic
in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances approved by the Sixth Conference
on the 19 of December of 1988 in Vienna.
-
For economic reasons. It is a commonly-accepted fact
that illicit-crop eradication is not feasible if not accompanied by alternative
economic initiatives and goods or products which would come in to substitute,
proportionally or to a greater extent, the income generated by these activities.
Accordingly, concerted or forced eradication measures are doomed to failure
if this factor is not taken into consideration. As concerns Tierradentro's
specific circumstances, a proposal for eliminating Coca crops is meaningless
if one considers that Coca is the social and economic foundation proper
to the Nasa peoples and that only exceptionally is there an occasional
and very small output of crops which are used for illicit purposes.
MANUFACTURE OF COCA AND OTHER HERBAL
TEAS
Goals:
-
Reappraise the uses of the Coca Leaf for food purposes.
-
Offer economic alternatives to indigenous peoples
and peasant growers of the Coca Leaf so that they may improve their livelihood
and thus avert the arrival of narcotics trafficking.
-
Protect Tierradentro's fragile ecosystems at elevations
situated from 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level, and its biotic diversity.
-
Promote the community's other medicinal crops and
open markets for these.
Peoples who will benefit:
Estimates of financial profits resulting from
the project
|
Boxes
Sold |
Gross
Sales
(US$) |
Gross
Profits
(US$) |
Net
Profits
(US$) |
| Year
1 |
180.000 |
127.000 |
32.000 |
19.000 |
| Year
2 |
360.000 |
253.000 |
64.000 |
39.000 |
| Year
3 |
720.000 |
507.000 |
128.000 |
77.000 |
| Year
4 |
960.000 |
675.000 |
171.000 |
103.000 |
| Year
5 |
1.200.000 |
884.000 |
214.000 |
128.000 |
Investment required
-
Drying Plant Assembly: A series of drying
plants have to be assembled to initially transform the leaves.
| Components |
Quantity |
Cost
per Unit (US$) |
Total Cost (US$)
|
|
Rent
|
3
|
124
|
1484
|
|
Sieve
|
1
|
1.706
|
1706
|
|
Herb Classifier
|
1
|
1.706
|
1706
|
|
Heating Unit
|
1
|
1.493
|
1493
|
|
ventilators
|
3
|
640
|
1919
|
|
Drying Platters
|
45
|
64
|
2878
|
|
Construction
of Drying Rooms
|
3
|
2.942
|
8827
|
|
Assembly and
Technical Assistance
|
1
|
2.217
|
2217
|
|
Total Cost
|
-
|
-
|
22.230
|
-
Technical Assistance and Consultancy. Top-quality
production that fulfills the high standards required by national and international
markets necessitates improving current modes of harvesting, treating and
transforming the Coca Leaf. To this end, the project includes technical
assistance.
-
Purchase of Packaging Equipment. Special equipment,
which can be found in Argentina, is required since this would allow unique
packaging techniques, excellent presentation and help to avoid forgery
of the product.
This equipment costs US$ 65.000.
The production capacity permitted by this equipment
would allow for it to be sublet (leased) when idle —at the beginning of
this project— to the site which will house the equipment, thus bringing
in additional profits.
The equipment will be housed at the same place
where the herbal teas are currently being packaged since the community,
recognizing its lack of experience in the matter, decided to outsource
the packaging with a company that has the required infrastructure, technical
capacity and all of the legal conditions and requisites needed for this
type of enterprises.
-
Purchase of the Means of Transportation: Transporting
raw material from Tierradentro to Bogotá implies having the means
of transportation required for the task so that it be done on a regular
and timely basis.
Contribution Requested
Pesos: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE MILLION
SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT THOUSAND AND EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY PESOS
($259.658.850)
Dollars: ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN THOUSAND
AND FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO DOLLARS (US$ 119.422.)
Investment by the Calderas Resguardo
Pesos: TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN THOUSAND AND
TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY PESOS $218.260.000
Dollars: ONE HUNDRED AND TWO THOUSAND AND
NINE HUNDRED AND TWELVE DOLLARS (US$ 102.912)
CHARGEES OF THE PROJECT
INDIGENOUS CABILDO OF CALDERAS
FABIOLA PIÑACUE ACHICUE, Councilor Resguardo
of Calderas.
DAVID CURTIDOR ARGUELLO, Councilor Resguardo
of Calderas.
Addresses:
Indigenous Cabildo of Calderas: Casa del Cabildo,
Resguardo de Calderas, Municipio de Inzá, Tierradentro Cauca. No
phone.
Fabiola Piñacué and David Curtidor:
Carrrera 77 bis No. 69 A 58 Bogotá
Telephone (00 57 1) 4 38 37 26
Mobile phone: (00 57 3) 234 46 06
E-mail addresses:
David Curtidor:
davidcurtidor@007mundo.com
Fabiola Piñacué
fabpinacue@hotmail.com
Project designed and prepared by:
Fabiola Piñacué
David Curtidor y
Indigenous Cabildo of Calderas
1.
Resolución 5078 of 1993