Coca production is booming in Colombia - here's how it gets turned into cocaine

AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

A farmer holds a mixing stick with lumps of solidifying coca paste at a small makeshift lab in the mountain region of Antioquia, Colombia, January 7, 2016.

In late 2016, Colombia sealed a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a left-wing rebel group and major drug trafficker.

But they have struggled to implement important aspects of the deal, and coca production has only increased.

After hitting a low in 2012, cultivation of coca - the base ingredient in cocaine - increased 134% between 2013 and 2016.

While the FARC agreed to exit the drug trade, dissident members have remained, and criminal groups that have proliferated in Colombia are also jockeying for a piece of the trade. Other factors, like few economic alternatives for coca-producing farmers, have helped keep the crop popular.

The Trump administration has pressured Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to address the increase. Santos has resisted a more hardline approach, and experts worry a focus on cocaine overlooks other potent threats developing in the country.

The photos below, taken by the Associated Press' Rodrigo Abd in early 2016, show how coca leaves are made into paste and then into cocaine, revealing the humble origins of one of the world's most lucrative illegal drugs.