UN reports 'shocking' 27 percent rise in coca cultivation in Colombia

The United Nations says Colombia's coca crop grew by 27 percent in 2007 and it calls the increase "a surprise and a shock."

The increase comes despite millions of dollars in U.S. funds to eradicate coca crops in the world's No. 1 cocaine-producing nation.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says coca cultivation was also up in Bolivia, by 5 percent, and Peru, by 4 percent.

The annual U.N. survey was released Wednesday. It estimates that cocaine production was stable at about 994 metric tons.

The U.N. says the main reason for the rise in coca production in Colombia is that farmers are quickly replanting the crop after it has been eradicated.