Pubdate: Tue, 20 Aug 2002
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Reuters Limited

U.N. REPORT: AFGHAN POPPY CULTIVATION NEAR RECORD

KABUL - Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is close to record levels a year 
after being nearly wiped out under the hard-line Taliban regime, the U.N.'s 
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report obtained on Tuesday.

The assessment report, originally designed to survey the annual food 
deficit in drought-stricken Afghanistan, found poppy cultivation has surged 
under the government of President Hamid Karzai despite a ban and steps to 
entice farmers to stop planting the crop.

"Poppy cultivation, that was virtually halted last year, has resumed again 
in most poppy growing areas of Afghanistan. It is estimated that the area 
under cultivation for poppy this year is very close to the record level of 
90,000 hectares (225,000 acres) set in 1999," the report obtained by 
Reuters said.

According to an FAO official in Kabul an Afghan farmer can make $14,000 per 
hectare of poppy cultivated land. The raw opium the farmer produces is 
refined into opium and heroin that is sold mostly to Europe.

Until 2001, Afghanistan was one of the world's largest producers of opium. 
The former Taliban regime outlawed its cultivation that year, but farmers 
resumed growing it after Karzai came to power in December.

With the cash from donor countries, Karzai tried to ban poppy growing and 
promised to provide $350 for about a quarter of a hectare of poppy 
cultivated land.

His move came at a time when most opium fields were already sown and 
subsequently the payment scheme failed to achieve its objectives, the FAO 
report said.

"It is estimated that 2,952 tons of opium will be produced (in 2002)," the 
FAO said, referring to the usual drug producing regions in the southwest.

Another FAO official even some non-traditional areas had also begun growing 
the crop.

The report predicted a large area would be cultivated next year, driven in 
part by the large numbers of Afghans returning home looking for ways to 
earn money but also because the risks of prosecution were perceived as low 
given the large numbers of farmers involved.

Afghanistan's infrastructure has been shattered by 23 years of war and 
thousands of poor farmers rely on the drugs trade to feed their families.

There are few heroin addicts in the staunchly Islamic nation, which 
traditionally views drugs as a curse.
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