UN Says Land Planted With Coca in Colombia is Down 25 Percent

Still increasing in areas where drug gangs operate

The area of land planted with coca—the raw ingredient for cocaine—in Colombia has fallen by 25%, a UN report has said.

The land under coca cultivation is now about a third of that in 2001, says the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

While coca areas fell nationwide, they rose in three provinces plagued by rebels and drug gangs.

Colombia is one the world's top three cocaine producers and has made the war on drugs one of its main priorities.