LA PAZ, Aug 6- Bolivia will present a comprehensive study on the demand for coca leaf for legal purposes in the nation – pending since 2010, official sources reported.
The coordinator of the National Council for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking (CONALTID), Sabino Mendoza said that the presentation of the document will be on Monday at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry.
Mendoza also announced that President Evo Morales (photo), Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and other government figures will attend the presentation of the report.
The investigation started in 2008 and has 12 different studies seeking to provide a comprehensive view of the subject, aimed at designing new policies regarding marketing and production of the plant.
These investigations seek to complement another eight on the demand of the leaf, financed by the European Union between 2008 and 2010.
Results are expected to determine which area of crops is necessary to cover the amount of this plant for permissible purposes (such as chewing, infusions, flour or medicinal purposes) and in this way set the number of legal hectares.
President Evo Morales, leader of the coca growers in Bolivia, has repeatedly announced the intention to raise the legal limit of crops to 20,000 hectares to promote various types of legal consumption and industrialization of the plant.
Last week, Morales inaugurated in this capital a factory to process and produce mate from it, which will provides export to the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).
– BERNAMA
