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Afghanistan/South Asia |
Opium Cultivation Drops Sharply in Afghanistan |
2005-08-30 |
The amount of land used for opium cultivation in world's largest producer country Afghanistan dropped by an estimated 21 percent this year because of a major clampdown on poppy farmers, the United Nations' anti-drug chief said yesterday. But good rains after years of drought led to bumper harvests from the poppy crops that were grown, so the overall yield of opium dropped by just 2 percent to 4,519 tons, said Antonio Maria Costa, the director for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Last year's yield was 4,630 tons. Costa said Afghanistan is still estimated to produce 87 percent of the world's supply of both opium and its derivative, heroin. He predicted it would take 20 years to eradicate the cultivation of drugs — a mainstay of many of Afghanistan's impoverished farmers, despite government warnings against growing poppies and authorities' destruction of some crops. |
Posted by:Fred |
#2 Hmmm.... looks suspicious alright. Just what are the opium poppy cultivation growth seasons in Afghanistan? Have the opium bulbs already been harvested? Maybe thats why cultivation is suddenly down? Does anybody out there know? This report is suspicious I agree. |
Posted by: Fun Dung Poo 2005-08-30 12:54 |
#1 Furthermore I doubt that anyone knows the real figures. This might be interesting http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_2_chap5_opium.pdf But I don't believe this report! The figure look very dubious. In the begining of this year, the Afghanistan goverment stated that there would be a 30-50 percent reduction in cultivation this year. They may be covering up their failure with talk of a good harvest. The problem has grown dramatically in the past few years eg according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium cultivation in 2004 increased by 64%. It appears now that the price of raw opium is falling dramatically suggesting that production is exceeding demand. Anyway the CIA estimates that opium trade now accounts for one-third of GDP. |
Posted by: bernardz 2005-08-30 11:28 |