Opium production increasing in Afghanistan: UN

An Afghan man harvests opium sap from the bulb of the plants in Nangarhar Province. (File photo)

The United Nations warns that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has been on the rise for the third year in a row and it is expected to hit a record high.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a report entitled “The Afghanistan Opium Winter Risk Assessment 2013” on Monday.

According to the report, although the exact figure for opium production in 2013 is still unclear, it is expected to surpass the 154,000 hectares planted in 2012, and the 131,000 hectares in 2011.

The report predicted that out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, 12 provinces are expected to increase their opium production, while no major change is expected in seven others.

“The southern region is expected to remain the largest opium cultivating region in Afghanistan in 2013. Poppy cultivation in Helmand and Kandahar, the main opium cultivating provinces in the country, is expected to increase and Helmand is expected to retain its status as the largest opium cultivating province in the country,” the report said.

The report noted that international efforts aimed at weaning local farmers off the crop have so far achieved no significant success.

“As we have predicted, opium will go up for a third year in a row," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, which prepared the report in cooperation with the Afghan Counternarcotics Ministry.

“We are looking at a record high cultivation,” he added.

The report attributed the rise in production to a considerable price hike which has made poppy cultivation attractive to farmers.

In 2010, prices started skyrocketing after blight damaged much of the crop, rising from about USD 60-85 a kilogram to USD 300 a kilogram in 2011.

“Afghanistan is to turn into a narco-state unless and until there is a comprehensive strategy that is adopted now," said UNODC deputy representative, Ashita Mittal, adding, “Time is not on our side.”

Head of the Afghan counternarcotics police in Helmand Province Mohammad Abdali says his forces face resistance from the Taliban who had taken control of some poppy growing regions.

"This is an area where the Taliban [have] told people that they can cultivate poppy and the government can't destroy it," he added.

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the US-led war began in 2001.

In 2012, Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, provided about 75 percent of the global crop and the figure is expected to jump to 90 percent in 2013.

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re...

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has ...

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, sp...

ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Search This Blog