Food rise has Bolivia's coca farmers planting rice

Rising food prices are doing something the US has failed to do for decades - convince farmers in Bolivia to plant crops other than coca.

Coca is the raw ingredient for cocaine, but its also a traditional crop grown by indigenous farmers in the mountains of Bolivia - chewing the leaves helps them deal with the effects of life at high altitudes. Bolivia's president Evo Morales himself is a coca farmer and bitterly opposed US efforts to eradicate the crop.

The United States wanted farmers to grow other crops - like bananas - instead, farmers resisted though because they cold make far more money growing coca. Now rising food prices are changing that. The coca growers union is now requiring its members to also grow rice to help keep soaring food prices in Bolivia down. Food prices in Bolivia have risen to the point where growing rice can be as profitable as growing coca.

In the long run it could lead to a drastic reduction in the amount of coca grown. Agriculture experts say by growing rice or corn along side coca, farmers will be able to make a living while transitioning between crops. US-led efforts asked farmers to stop growing coca entirely and then plant new crops, meaning they would, for a period of time, be earning no money at all. And the crops the US asked them to grow - bananas or pineapples - were aimed at the export market, rather than for consumption at home.