Over the last twenty-five years, UNDCP has
actively promoted and
supported international
efforts to reduce illicit cultivation of opium poppy in
South East and South
West Asia and twelve
years ago, a similar action was launched in the Andean Subregion in respect of coca cultivation.
In the course of those years UNDCP’s approach in
the field has been substantially improved. The
crop substitution projects of the early 1970s whic
h focussed on direct replacement of illicit crops
by licit ones, have lead to
refinement and imp
rovement of the
approach applied.