Bolivians told to heed coca limits

Evo Morales told a congress of coca growers in the central city of Cochabamba that confining growing to the allocated family plot would "stop the US talking badly about us".

Standing in front of a banner with the message "Long live coca, Death to the Yankees", Morales, a former coca farmer, said: "[Planting only] a 'cato' of coca would be a slap at the government of the United States in the fight against the drug trade."

A cato of coca is a 1,600 square metres plot which can be grown by families in the tropical Chapare region under a 2004 agreement with a previous Bolivian government.

The Chapare area is also at centre of US-funded programmes to destroy coca plants.

Cocaine worries

The US has been monitoring Morales's policy on coca, the raw material used in the production of cocaine, closely.

The populist politician was sworn in as Bolivia's first indigenous president last month after securing the top job with an election campaign that was constantly critical of coca eradication programmes.

Only Peru and Colombia produce more of the world's cocaine than Bolivia.

The US says that most of the coca grown in Chapare ends up in the hands of the drug trade.

Farmers say coca is mostly used for traditional purposes, from hunger depressants to protection against altitude sickness.

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