Bolivia's government is preparing to relax its coca eradication efforts in response to a national outcry from farmers growing the traditional plant for local sale and consumption.

Coca eradication is unpopular in the public and President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada vowed as a campaigner to review the coca policy. Only after months of civil unrest, however, has he finally agreed to re-assess the situation. The move, which could come within a week, will be a sharp reversal of America's strict anti-drug eradication programs in Bolivia.

Government negotiators and coca growers reached a tentative agreement on coca growing even as the ongoing violent demonstrations against coca growing restrictions and global free trade agreements killed more than two dozen and destroyed a number of government buildings. The proposed plan, which President Sanchez de Lozada is reviewing, would allow 15,000 Bolivian farmers to grow around a fifth of an acre of coca during a six-month trial period. Over these six months, the government will assess how much demand there is for legal uses of coca.

The country's drug czar has suggested that if farmers agree to grow limited quantities of legal coca, they would be less likely to grow coca for illegal sale. ''Eradication is not an end it itself but a tactic in the fight against drug trafficking,'' he said.

The United States maintains its zero tolerance stand point, insisting that no more coca growing can be justified. US-funded coca eradication programs have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares. Punishing local farmers for the illegal work of a few does little more than displace those crops used for cocaine production into other areas, fuel violence, and worsen human rights conditions in a country with poor economic conditions.

Opponents want the president to resign after just seven months in office. His Cabinet resigned last week and Sanchez de Lozada desperately seeks international aid to stave off collapse.