ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay has become South America’s leading marijuana producer, its interior minister acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press.

The latest UN World Drug Report estimates that Paraguay’s pot industry grew 5,900 tonnes of the weed last year, more than half the continent’s entire clandestine production. Of that, Paraguayan agents destroyed just 173 tonnes in 2008, according to the country’s Anti-Drug Secretariat.

Interior Minister Rafael Filizzola blamed the pot problem — mainly in remote northern areas that get little government help — on official corruption and negligence before President Fernando Lugo took office 15 months ago.

“People who were close to former governments protected these illegal activities,” he said late last week.

“Peasants do not get rich by participating in these criminal activities; they barely get enough to survive. But they cause a great social problem to the government and a problem for internal security,” Filizzola said. “These activities are part of a criminal chain that involves very powerful interests.”

Brazilians consume most of Paraguay’s marijuana, followed by Argentines, and Filizzola said the industry is dominated by international gangs or Brazilian groups such as the First Capital Command, which controls most of the drug trade in Sao Paulo’s slums.

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