Opium cultivation registers drop in Afghanistan
Friday, 29 August 2008
NEW YORK, Aug 28 (PTI): Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has gone down by a fifth as compared to last year, the UN said yesterday, attributing the decrease to good local leadership and bad weather.
The latest Afghanistan Opium Survey shows a 19 percent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
"Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tons. This year the opium flood waters have started to recede," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said.
The survey also found that 18 of the country's 34 provinces are now opium-free - up from 13 last year. In addition, cultivation now takes place "almost exclusively" in provinces affected by insurgency.
Some 98 percent of Afghanistan's opium is grown in seven provinces in the southwest of the country - Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Farah, Nimroz, Daykundi and Zabul, with Helmand alone accounting for two thirds of the national total.
"There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of high opium cultivation," said Costa.
The latest Afghanistan Opium Survey shows a 19 percent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
"Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tons. This year the opium flood waters have started to recede," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said.
The survey also found that 18 of the country's 34 provinces are now opium-free - up from 13 last year. In addition, cultivation now takes place "almost exclusively" in provinces affected by insurgency.
Some 98 percent of Afghanistan's opium is grown in seven provinces in the southwest of the country - Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Farah, Nimroz, Daykundi and Zabul, with Helmand alone accounting for two thirds of the national total.
"There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of high opium cultivation," said Costa.