Abstract

Alternative development is closely associated with reductions in drug crop cultivation at the local level. However, currently these local successes cannot be directly attributed to alternative development interventions because the motivations and circumstances that determine household drug crop cultivation remain largely unexplored. Research has tended to focus on aggregate trends in drug crop cultivation at the national, regional and village level. The specific socio-economic, cultural and environmental circumstances that influence household production are consequently overlooked in project design. Rather, alternative development initiatives have adopted a uniform approach where emphasis is placed on the high economic returns that opium and coca are reported to accrue per unit of land.

This paper rejects this uni-causal explanation of drug crop cultivation that finds its basis in the assumption that drug crop producers are a homogenous group. It offers an insight into the diversity of factors that influence household drug crop cultivation that are currently neglected, including returns on labour, access to credit and land, and the effect of law enforcement and conditionality. It indicates that the failure to recognise the dynamics of household decision making has implications for the cost effectiveness of the current strategy and raises questions as to the unintended consequences of alternative development, particularly with regard to its impact on the poor and the process of relocation. It also illustrates that greater attention needs to be given to the timing and interface between law enforcement initiatives and alternative development interventions.

The paper concludes that a greater understanding of the multi-functional role that drug crops play in the socio-economy of the household would assist in determining more effective and sustainable initiatives aimed at reducing both existing, and potential drug crop cultivation. It also suggests that the overall success of supply side interventions will be contingent on reductions in demand both internationally and increasingly in source countries.