Coca is "only option" for some Peruvian farmers

VALLE DEL MONZON, Peru, July 18 (Reuters) Leandro Verraspa struggled for years to make ends meet, plucking fruit and pulling up crops in the fields scattered across this verdant river valley in central Peru.

Now Verraspa, 24, has found steady work harvesting coca leaf, the main ingredient for cocaine, and makes enough money to support his wife and child.

''Around here, it's the best opportunity I've got,'' he said.

Peru is the world's second-biggest cocaine producer after Colombia, and more than a third of the country's coca leaf is grown here in the humid and impoverished Valle del Monzon -- Spanish for ''Monsoon Valley.'' The United Nations says about 280 tonnes of cocaine was produced from Peruvian coca last year, the highest level in almost a decade, as a US-backed crackdown in neighboring Colombia pushed production here and to Bolivia.

Many peasants who had abandoned the crop when prices slumped in the 1990s are starting to cultivate it again.

''It's the only thing that enables us to feed our kids,'' said Fernando Eustaqui, a 49-year-old coca field worker and father of five.

Green leafy coca plantings stretch out across plateaus between two mountains in this valley on the edge of the Amazon jungle.

Some 10,000 peasants grow coca here, selling a small percentage of the production legally under government laws.

The leaf has for centuries been chewed by farmers to ward off hunger and brewed in teas to cure altitude sickness. But the vast majority of coca ends up in the hands of traffickers for about VALLE DEL MONZON, Peru, July 18 (Reuters) Leandro Verraspa struggled for years to make ends meet, plucking fruit and pulling up crops in the fields scattered across this verdant river valley in central Peru.

Now Verraspa, 24, has found steady work harvesting coca leaf, the main ingredient for cocaine, and makes enough money to support his wife and child.

''Around here, it's the best opportunity I've got,'' he said.

Peru is the world's second-biggest cocaine producer after Colombia, and more than a third of the country's coca leaf is grown here in the humid and impoverished Valle del Monzon -- Spanish for ''Monsoon Valley.'' The United Nations says about 280 tonnes of cocaine was produced from Peruvian coca last year, the highest level in almost a decade, as a US-backed crackdown in neighboring Colombia pushed production here and to Bolivia.

Many peasants who had abandoned the crop when prices slumped in the 1990s are starting to cultivate it again.

''It's the only thing that enables us to feed our kids,'' said Fernando Eustaqui, a 49-year-old coca field worker and father of five.

Green leafy coca plantings stretch out across plateaus between two mountains in this valley on the edge of the Amazon jungle.

Some 10,000 peasants grow coca here, selling a small percentage of the production legally under government laws.

The leaf has for centuries been chewed by farmers to ward off hunger and brewed in teas to cure altitude sickness. But the vast majority of coca ends up in the hands of traffickers for about $2 per kilo.

''Government officials buy from us, others come on mule and horseback to buy from us. People in SUVs who work in the black market also come to us,'' said Eustaqui. ''But we have to sell it.

What other option do we have?''.

Children and women, some with babies strapped to their backs, also work the fields, towing plastic bags brimming with coca leaves.

Glaring out from underneath straw hats, peasants are wary of visitors. The surrounding areas are virtual no-go regions for police, where small groups of Maoist rebels increasingly work with traffickers.

In a region long neglected by the central government, coca farmers say money earned from the crop has helped to fund schools and pay teachers, and that attempts to switch to other crops like yucca have proved unprofitable.

Part of the problem is getting the goods to markets, they say.

Potholed dirt tracks are the only way in out of the region and even these are sometimes made impassable by mountain rivers.

The high transportation costs chip away at already slim profits, and coca simply commands higher prices.

''It's the law of supply and demand,'' said Abraham Montenegro, an official with a union representing coca growers in Monzon. ''If we don't grow coca, what else can we do?'' REUTERS SW RAI1001 per kilo.

''Government officials buy from us, others come on mule and horseback to buy from us. People in SUVs who work in the black market also come to us,'' said Eustaqui. ''But we have to sell it.

What other option do we have?''.

Children and women, some with babies strapped to their backs, also work the fields, towing plastic bags brimming with coca leaves.

Glaring out from underneath straw hats, peasants are wary of visitors. The surrounding areas are virtual no-go regions for police, where small groups of Maoist rebels increasingly work with traffickers.

In a region long neglected by the central government, coca farmers say money earned from the crop has helped to fund schools and pay teachers, and that attempts to switch to other crops like yucca have proved unprofitable.

Part of the problem is getting the goods to markets, they say.

Potholed dirt tracks are the only way in out of the region and even these are sometimes made impassable by mountain rivers.

The high transportation costs chip away at already slim profits, and coca simply commands higher prices.

''It's the law of supply and demand,'' said Abraham Montenegro, an official with a union representing coca growers in Monzon. ''If we don't grow coca, what else can we do?'' REUTERS SW RAI1001