page_title: Coca
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Coca / Cultivation
context_page_description: Coca is known throughout the world for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America.
  The plant is grown as a cash crop in Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, even in areas where its cultivation is unlawful. There are some reports that the plant is being cultivated in the south of Mexico as an alternative to smuggling its recreational product cocaine.
  It also plays a role in many traditional Andean cultures as well as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
  The cocaine alkaloid content of coca leaves is relatively low, between 0.25% and 0.77%. The native people use it as a stimulant. Coca-Cola used coca leaf extract in its products from 1885 until about 1903. Extraction of cocaine from coca requires several solvents and a chemical process known as an acid-base extraction, which can fairly easily extract the alkaloids from the plant.
context_section_description: Coca is traditionally cultivated in the lower altitudes of the eastern slopes of the Andes (the Yungas), or the highlands depending on the species grown. Coca production begins in the valleys and upper jungle regions of the Andean region, where the countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are host to more than 98 per cent of the global land area planted with coca. In 2014, Coca plantations were discovered in Mexico, and in 2020 in Honduras , which could have major implications for the illegal cultivation of the plant.
  The seeds are sown from December to January in small plots (almacigas) sheltered from the sun, and the young plants when at 40 to 60 centimetres (16 to 24 inches) in height are placed in final planting holes (aspi), or if the ground is level, in furrows (uachos) in carefully weeded soil. The plants thrive best in hot, damp and humid locations, such as the clearings of forests; but the leaves most preferred are obtained in drier areas, on the hillsides. The leaves are gathered from plants varying in age from one and a half to upwards of forty years, but only the new fresh growth is harvested. They are considered ready for plucking when they break on being bent. The first and most abundant harvest is in March after the rainy season, the second is at the end of June, and the third in October or November. The green leaves (matu) are spread in thin layers on coarse woollen cloths and dried in the sun; they are then packed in sacks, which must be kept dry in order to preserve the quality of the leaves.
caption: Coca tree in Colombia
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