The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday issued the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008 showing a 19 percent decrease in opium cultivation in Afghanistan so far this year.
"The opium cultivation decreased by 19 percent to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007 while opium production has dropped less dramatically, down by 6 percent from 8,200 tons to 7,700 tons," the report said.
The number of opium-free provinces has increased by almost 50 percent from 13 to 18 which means that opium is not grown in more than half of the country's 34 provinces, it noted.
Opium cultivation according to the report, now takes place almost exclusively in provinces most affected by insurgency as 98 percent of all of Afghanistan's opium is grown in just seven provinces in the southern Afghanistan where there are permanent Taliban settlements, and where organized crime groups profit from the chaos.
"Since drugs are funding insurgency and insurgency enables drug cultivation, insurgency and narcotics must be fought together," it said.
However, the UNDOC report warned that Afghanistan's drug control strategy should be consolidated as it is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the latest food crisis has made farmers even more vulnerable.
"Opium is a seasonal plant. It may be gone today, but back again tomorrow," it said.
"To consolidate recent gains, farmers should be showed a viable alternative to opium and timely and targeted international assistance is vital," it added.
Moreover, UNDOC urged the Afghan authorities, assisted by NATO, to shift focus and resources from eradication to closing opium markets, destroying heroin labs, and going after the drug convoys.
"These are higher value targets than farmers' fields. If heroin processing and trafficking are blocked, the domestic price of opium would drop even further," the report said.
UNDOC also called for a crackdown on corruption, which is "greasing the wheels" of the drugs trade.
"Corrupt officials, landowners, warlords and criminals must feel the full force of the law, otherwise the opium economy will continue to operate with impunity, and the Taliban will continue to profit from it," the report said.
Afghanistan with an output of 8,200 tones had topped the poppy growing nations in 2007 in supplying raw material used in manufacturing heroin in the world.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article