The document proposes a theoretical explanatory model, which has been validated, corroborated and qualitatively complemented with interviews with 13 coca farmers in the department of Putumayo in Colombia. By comparing the available literature on this topic with the theoretical model proposed and the narratives of Colombian farmers, the aim was to give greater prominence to the voices of those who live in the countryside and depend on coca for their daily lives.

The knowledge of the complexity of factors that interact in the behavior of the different peasant populations or other types of agents/actors will allow understanding the dynamics that occur in the field, and, in this way, it will be possible to manage a comprehensive intervention by the State to prevent or mitigate the continuation of this activity with the impact, often irreversible, on the environment. At the end of the work, the aim is to provide elements that contribute to decision makers to define strategies to mitigate the impact of illicit crops on the deforestation of the territory.

* Publication available in Spanish and English.