Afghanistan's poppy production on the rise

For years, both the Afghan government and the international community have been struggling to get farmers in Southwestern part of the country to stop the production of opium.

A recent effort, conducted by the Afghan government and financed by the international community that encouraged growers to abandon their poppy crops in favor of cotton appeared to be meeting with some success.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the number of acres being used to grow poppies declined seven per cent between 2010 and 2011, a significant drop in the province known as the largest heroin-producing region in the world.

However, farmers in the Helmand region are now threatening to go back to growing poppies because the Afghan government has not helped them market the alternative crops it encouraged them to grow.

Farmers like Mohammad Jan, from the Marja district, say they are not selling enough to make a living these days.

“I haven't grown poppy for the past two years; I've grown cotton instead,” he said. “But I failed to feed my family. I've been disappointed this year, too, because there's no market for cotton. The government won't buy it from us, and the price the traders pay isn't profitable for us.”

The head of counter-narcotics in Helmand, Abdul Qader Zahir, appeared unsympathetic to the farmers' plight. He warned that opium production was illegal whatever the economic circumstances, and would not be tolerated. “If there is no market for the farmers' cotton, that does not mean they can grow poppy,” he said.

But it's not just the low demand for their cotton that is forcing farmers to reconsider growing an illegal crop. The average price of opium has soared in recent months, climbing from $98 a kilo in 2010 to $274 in 2011.

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Comments

Morpheus - 2011-09-23 14:26:42

Beautiful Plant!

Tarzan - 2011-09-23 18:21:16

Powerful Plant!

alrick - 2011-09-25 10:36:34

Actually, the above is all false information. In fact, the Afghan government runs the opium business, and the US Army is there to help the farmers grow opium. The War on Drugs is phony. In fact the harvest is up 12 times from when the US invaded Afghanistan. The CIA has been -on record- always been involved in the production and transport of opium and heroin.
Watch this 5 min video to get the real story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apaUuqU89jQ

Roeland - 2011-09-26 15:48:09

-2

Oh thats what i´m gonna do too!
Im gonna sell hard drugs and if the police catch me, i´ll just say i wont make enough money working in the super market.
Let´s just see how far that excuse will get me in court.

Appearantly, Cotton isnt so scarce, so it wont earn you much. It´s called buisiness tactics. Grow a different crop or get a bigger field.

I have no respect or pitty for those farmers whatsoever. It´s the hard reality of economics. Everybody around the world deals with that. Western farmers would also make a lot more money if they´d grow weed or coke. Those Afghani farmers should be prosecuted. No If´s, and´s or but´s...

Cheaters get kicked... Bottomline.
If you´re playing monopoly and one player keeps grabbing money from the bank cause he has too lil in his opinon, you would kick his ass aswell. If you ask me, players who grab money from the bank are childeren and crooks.
So Afghani farmers: Stop whining, Stop Cheating and play according the rules like everybody else!

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