Afghan poppy cultivation edges higher in 2011 – UN

KABUL — Land under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has climbed 7 percent from 2010 as farmers sought to capitalize on a sharp rise in opium prices caused by an unidentified disease last year, a UN report said on Tuesday. Three provinces in the north and east of the country that had been declared "poppy-free" have returned to production, the UN drug agency UNODC said. The increase came even though crop eradication was 65 percent higher than a year ago, and took place in 18 provinces, up from 11 a year ago. Afghanistan's total cultivation area after eradication was estimated at 131,000 hectares this year, up from 123,000, UNODC said. The figure was still lower than in 2009 and a third less than the record 193,000 hectares in 2007. It estimated 95 percent of poppy growth was concentrated in the south and west, the country's most insecure regions, confirming a "direct link" between poppy cultivation and the Taliban-led insurgency. Opium prices in Afghanistan more than doubled last year after production was cut in half due to the unexplained disease. Falling wheat prices and the high price of the opium may have prompted many farmers to resume production, as they netted $10,700 per hectare of poppies cultivated, a big jump from $4,900 a year earlier, the report said. High prices fuel poppy cultivation resurgence "It is obvious that the high level of opium prices in 2010 could have been one of the factors behind a resurgence of poppy cultivation in the northern and eastern regions," it said. Afghanistan has long been the world's leading supplier of opium, and in recent years has produced thousands of tons more than the entire global demand for the drug. Juice is extracted from poppies to produce opium, which is then used to make expensive and highly addictive heroin. The drug trade funnels an estimated $100 million to $400 million a year to the Taliban through levies on farmers and traffickers, UNODC has said The number of provinces declared poppy-free was 17, down from 20 a year ago, although the report noted that cultivation in the main poppy-growing regions had actually fallen slightly, by an average 2-3 percent. Southern Helmand, one of Afghanistan's biggest provinces and responsible for about half the production, produced 3 percent less in 2011 than in 2010, with a "massive reduction" in several centrally located districts, such as Lashkar and Garmsir. The three provinces that lost their poppy-free status were Faryab and Baghlan in the north and eastern Kapisa province. — Reuters