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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan's opium production jumps by nearly 50 percent: UN |
| 2006-09-03 |
| Afghanistan's opium production will increase by nearly 50 percent this year to a record 6,100 tonnes after an "alarming" jump in cultivation in the lawless south, the UN drugs office announced. The area of land planted with opium -- of which Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of world supply -- rose 59 percent this year as compared to last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. The sharp increase in the number of acres planted would lead to a likely harvest of 6,100 tonnes -- a 49 percent hike over the 4,100 tonnes produced the year before. "This year's harvest will be around 6,100 tonnes of opium -- a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent," UNODC global executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in Kabul. The hike comes despite government and international efforts costing millions of dollars to try to stop Afghanistan's trade in illegal opium, most of which ends up in the heroin markets of Europe, Russia, China, Central Asia and Iran. "These are very alarming numbers. Afghanistan is increasingly hooked on its own drug," Costa said after presenting the figures to President Hamid Karzai. |
| Posted by:Fred |