Afghan opium cultivation up 10 pc

Kabul, October 23

Afghanistan saw a 10 per cent jump in opium cultivation this year, a sharp rise owing to favourable weather, growing insecurity and a drop in international support for counter-narcotics operations, the UN said today.

Cultivation dropped last year owing to drought conditions but it has been on the rise in the past decade, fuelling the Taliban insurgency and spurring a growing crisis of drug addiction despite costly US-led counter-narcotics programmes. High levels of cultivation this year meant the total opium production soared 43%, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, citing better yield because of favourable weather conditions.

“The cultivation has increased by 10 per cent this year compared to the same time in 2015 — from 183,000 hectares to 201,000 hectares,” counter-narcotics minister Salamat Azimi said. “Ninety-three per cent of the cultivation has taken place in the southern, eastern and western parts,” Officials also cited falling international donor support and growing insecurity as the main reasons for the increase in cultivation. — AFP