For the third straight year Bolivia’s coca acreage rose to 36,400 hectares—well above the 22,000-hectare legal ceiling—creating excess leaf that UN and Bolivian officials say is likely diverted into cocaine manufacture.
Coca cultivation reached 36,400 hectares in Bolivia, 65.5% above the 22,000-hectare legal limit set by the 2017 General Coca Law.
Expansion is concentrated in the Cochabamba Tropics—especially Chapare—where less than 10% of production was sold through the authorized market in 2025.
# What the numbers show Bolivia's coca cultivation reached 36,400 hectares, the highest level for the third consecutive year. That area is 65.5% larger than the 22,000 hectares allowed under the 2017 General Coca Law. The gap between legal limits and actual cultivation is substantial and growing.
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) figures show that the potential production of sun-dried coca leaf rose 9% year-on-year. After accounting for the leaf used in authorized markets, the surplus coca leaf could yield approximately 275 metric tons of potential cocaine.
# Where expansion is concentrated The increase is concentrated in the Cochabamba Tropics region, notably Chapare province. Although the Cochabamba Tropics are legally authorized to cultivate 7,700 hectares, cultivation there reached 17,470 hectares in 2025. Less than 10% of that production was sold through the region's authorized market in 2025.
Authorities and investigators link the Cochabamba Tropics to most of the coca paste production sites and cocaine crystallization laboratories that have been destroyed in recent years. Observed on-the-ground infrastructure includes more than 3,000 coca paste production sites and hundreds of cocaine hydrochloride crystallization labs.
# Drivers and market signals The available reporting stresses that this expansion appears driven by global cocaine demand rather than growth in Bolivia's legal coca leaf market. Bolivia retains the world's largest legal coca leaf industry, but legal trade has not expanded enough to absorb the extra production.
Officials and local law enforcement describe a supply chain in which surplus sun-dried coca leaf is diverted into laboratories, producing coca paste and then purified cocaine hydrochloride for export. This pattern is reinforced by expanding international markets and record levels of consumption globally.
# Governance and political context Control over the Cochabamba Tropics is limited. The region has a history of conflict between coca-growing peasant unions and the state, dating to forced eradication policies and repression into the early 2000s. Since then, coca growers' movements have retained strong social and political influence in the area.
Bolivian authorities acknowledge these governance constraints as a main challenge. On September 16, the United States designated Bolivia as one of the countries that had "failed demonstrably" in its counternarcotics efforts, a diplomatic signal that may affect cooperation and funding for anti-trafficking measures.
# Enforcement activity and infrastructure uncovered Authorities report destroying numerous production sites and labs in recent years. The scale of illicit processing facilities—thousands of paste sites and hundreds of crystallization labs—indicates an established internal processing capacity rather than simple transit of foreign cocaine through Bolivia.
# Immediate implications The gap between legal cultivation and actual production suggests ongoing diversion of coca leaf to illegal markets. For policymakers and law enforcement, the report points to three concrete pressure points: regulating acreage, strengthening oversight and legal market channels, and targeting processing infrastructure in regions where the state's presence is weakest.
# What to watch next Expect attention on Cochabamba Tropics enforcement operations, any policy changes to the General Coca Law or its enforcement, and whether international partners adjust counternarcotics cooperation following the U.S. designation.
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