Pubdate: Thu, 12 Sep 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Christopher Torchia, The Associated Press

AFGHAN FARMERS TO HARVEST MARIJUANA

KHANA ABAD, Afghanistan - Obeying a Taliban edict, many marijuana
cultivators in Afghanistan stopped growing their crops when the
hardline Islamic militia was in power. Now some of those farmers are
back in business.

They're so open about it that fields of sturdy marijuana plants, some
nearly seven feet tall, line part of the main road leading west from
Mazar-e-Sharif, the biggest city in northern Afghanistan. Resin from
the plant, also known as cannabis, is concentrated to make hashish.

With the main harvest expected in one to two months, growers in the
roadside village of Khana Abad, 20 miles from Mazar-e-Sharif, say
they'll ignore government warnings to tear up their crops.

``Maybe it isn't good for our people, but we have to do it because of
our economic problems,'' said Rouzudin, a farmer who said he heard the
warnings broadcast on the radio only after investing a large sum in
his plot.

Rouzudin might just be able to harvest his leafy, dark green crop
without state intervention. Since the Taliban were ousted in a
U.S.-led war last year, Afghanistan's new government and the United
Nations have focused anti-drug efforts on eradicating opium-bearing
poppies, which are used to make heroin.

Afghanistan was once the source of 70 percent of the world's opium,
much of it originating in the south of the country.

The Taliban successfully banned poppies in 2000, but farmers quickly
planted them again after their ouster. During the harvest earlier this
year, the government offered compensation money to farmers who
abandoned opium, but many reaped their harvest anyway.

Marijuana plants are less of a priority, even though Afghanistan,
especially the northern part, is a major producer. Consumption of
hashish, the plant's concentrated resin, is widespread in the country,
and smugglers ferry it through Iran and to markets in the Persian
Gulf, Europe and beyond.

The United Nations has conducted surveys of poppy crops, but has not
done so for marijuana plants. The focus on poppies possibly reflects
the view of i nternational donors that highly addictive heroin is the
more urgent problem.

Marijuana plants are widely grown in at least three of the 16
districts in Balkh province, which is home to Mazar-e-Sharif. Local
authorities have sent letters to villages urging farmers to stop
growing the illegal crop, but they have yet to decide how and when
they will crack down.

``The farmers have planted this stuff like smugglers,'' said Saheed
Azizullah Hashmi, head of the province's agriculture department. ``We
don't know how much there is out there.''

He said many people associated with the hashish trade were linked to
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. But marijuana
plants thrived well before they held sway over much of Afghanistan,
and local commanders with large land holdings reportedly benefit from
its cultivation.

Rouzudin and his fellow farmers made no effort to hide their plants,
which loom over nearby cotton bushes. The two crops are interspersed
along the road leading to Shibergan, the headquarters of Gen. Abdul
Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek commander and powerful political figure
in the north.

Farmer Majid Gul said he can get 5 million Afghanis, or about $100,
for 2.2 pounds of hashish, 200 times more than he could earn for the
same amount of cotton.

``When we're ready to sell, people in big cars will come from the
bazaar in town,'' he said. ``We don't know who they are, we just want
the money.''
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