KABUL: Opium production in Afghanistan has dropped since the Taliban banned cultivation of the poppy plant, according to a United Nations (UN) report published on Sunday. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers promised to wipe out the country’s drug industry, banning poppy cultivation in April last year.
Poppy plants are the source of opium and heroin. Afghanistan was the world’s biggest opium producer and a major source of heroin in Asia and Europe before the Taliban takeover.
The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that poppy cultivation had plummeted by an estimated 95 percent over the past year, from 233,000 hectares (575,755 acres) at the end of 2022 to 10,800 hectares in 2023, according to DW report.
Opium production also fell from 6,200 tons to 333 tons in 2023. As per the report, in 2023, harvest amounts to 24-38 tons of exportable heroin, much less than the 350-580 tons estimated for last year.
Farmers’ Income Drops in Afghanistan
Farmer’s incomes have fallen by 92 percent this year, from an estimated 1.36 billion dollars to 110 million dollars. Last year, poppy crops made up nearly a third of the value of total agricultural production in the country.
The UNODC warned of the risk of people previously involved in the opium industry moving toward other illegal activities, such as the trafficking of arms, people, or synthetic drugs.
A September report from the same agency found that Afghanistan was the world’s fastest-growing producer of methamphetamine.
The UNODC said the Taliban crackdown on the poppy industry could have a negative impact on the livelihoods of many Afghans and warned of “humanitarian consequences for many vulnerable rural communities.”
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UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said that today, Afghanistan’s people need urgent humanitarian aid to absorb the shock of lost income and save lives.
Waly said other crops, such as wheat and cotton, were far more water-intensive than poppy plants. She added that Afghanistan had undergone three years of consecutive drought.
She said that Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghans with opportunities away from opium.
Afghanistan has already been grappling with a grave humanitarian crisis sparked by decades of war, as well as natural calamities such as earthquakes and droughts.
