MEDELLÍN, Colombia — Colombia has more land producing the plant used to make cocaine than ever in its history, according to new figures from the United Nations’ crime watchdog.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in a report released this week, said the land used to grow coca reached 422,550 acres by the end of 2017 — an area larger than the footprint of Los Angeles.

That’s a 17 percent increase from the year before, and part of a longer trend: Each year since 2013, land used to produce coca leaf has gone up, on average, about 45 percent, the report said. The crops now are also a third more productive than they were in 2012, the agency said.

The figures caused “deep worry,” said Colombia’s defense minister, Guillermo Botero.

“It’s a curve that’s permanently going up and hasn’t reached its inflection point,” he told reporters.