Alternative Development

Alternative Development programmes, aimed at encouraging peasants to switch from growing illicit drugs-related crops, play an important role in UN drug control strategies. The record of success, however, is a questionable one. Decades of efforts to reduce global drug supply, using a combination of developmental and repressive means, managed to shift production from one country to another, but have failed in terms of global impact. TNI argues for de-linking alternative development from the threat of forced eradication and law enforcement and guaranteeing peasants the support required for a sustainable alternative future.

Financing Dispossession

February 2012
Kevin Woods
Tom Kramer

China’s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Financing dispossession is not development.

Between Reality and Abstraction

March 2013
Nr. 39 - 
Hugo Cabieses
Pien Metaal
Mirella van Dun

At the International Conference on Alter­native Development (ICAD), held 15-16 November 2012 in Lima, the Peruvian Government continued to insist on the relevance of “Alternative Development (AD),” with particular emphasis on the so-called San Martín “miracle” or “model.”

Drugs on the agenda of Colombian peace talks

December 2012
Drugs and Democracy

Inclusion of the drug issue on the agenda of the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC, which are being held in Havana, Cuba, is a smart move.

The impact of Alternative Development in Burma and Laos

October 2012
Ernestien Jensema

Alternative development and crop substitution programmes seem to be a guise for the Chinese government to support large scale agro businesses in Northern Burma and Laos. 

Why peace and land security is key to Burma's democratic future

May 2012
Tom Kramer

Analysis of the social costs of large-scale Chinese-supported rubber farms in northern Burma suggests that the future for ordinary citizens will be affected as much by the country's chosen economic path as the political reforms underway. 

USAID's Alternative Development policy in Colombia

October 2011
Nr. 38 - 
Ricardo Vargas

Alternative Development as practised by USAID and the Colombia government was always guided more by security rather than development considerations. This report examines the key aspects of USAID's alternative development policy and its implementation in Colombia during the last decade. A critical analysis by Ricardo Vargas.

 

Alternative Development from the perspective of Colombian farmers

July 2011
Nr. 36 - 
Susana Ojeda

There is considerable debate on whether Alternative Development is successful from the point of view of experts and politicians, but what do Colombian farmers targeted by these programmes think and what are the implications for their daily lives?

The ‘miracle of San Martín’ and symptoms of ‘alternative development’ in Peru

December 2010
Nr. 34 - 
Hugo Cabieses

The Peruvian government has presented the “Miracle of San Martin Model” as the path to follow to achieve drug supply reduction. However a closer look reveals that the model is not replicable, not ecologically sustainable, and won't remedy the ‘symptoms of alternative development’.

Alternative Development or Business as Usual?

November 2010
Nr. 33 - 
Drugs and Democracy

The Chinese Government's opium substitution programmes in northern Burma and Laos have prompted a booming rubber industry, but the beneficiaries have been a small few with many others losing their lands as a result.

The security approach to the drugs problem

December 2009
Nr. 31 - 
Ricardo Vargas

The drugs problem in Colombia is intertwined with structural factors at the social, economic, institutional and cultural levels. Moreover, its relationship to the armed conflict has had serious consequences for the socio-economic conditions of peasant and indigenous communities affected by the production of raw materials used to produce cocaine.