Opium cultivation rose by 19 percent in Afghanistan this year, the UN reported yesterday, despite a Taliban government ban that almost eradicated the crop.
Currently, 12,800 hectares of poppies are cultivated in Afghanistan, where up to 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture, a new survey by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed, the agency said in a statement.
The 19 percent increase year-on-year remains far below the 232,000 hectares cultivated when Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned the crop in April 2022, nearly a year after the Taliban returned to power, the UN agency said.
Photo:AFP
The center of poppy cultivation has also shifted and is now concentrated in northeastern provinces instead of in the Taliban strongholds of southern Afghanistan, it said.
In May, clashes between farmers and brigades sent to destroy their poppy fields resulted in several deaths in northeastern Badakhshan.
Following the poppy ban, prices soared for the resin from which opium and heroin are made. During the first half of this year, prices stabilized at about US$730 per kilogram, compared with about US$100 per kilogram before 2022, the UN drugs agency said.
For years Afghanistan was the world’s biggest supplier of opium and heroin. Many farmers in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, were hit hard financially by the ban and have not been able to reap the same profits from alternative crops.
Even legal crops are only a short-term solution, “so the focus should be on job creation in non-farm industries,” the International Crisis Group said.
The UNODC and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan called for international support for farmers to transition to alternative crops and livelihoods, something the Taliban government has requested.
“With opium cultivation remaining at a low level in Afghanistan, we have the opportunity and responsibility to support Afghan farmers to develop sustainable sources of income free from illicit markets,” UNODC executive director Ghada Waly said in the statement.
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