There has been a decrease of over one fifth in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan this year compared to last, according to the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa.
Mr. Costa was in Kabul Monday to present the preliminary findings of the UNODCs 2005 Opium Survey for Afghanistan to the Afghan Government, which is due to be published in about one months time. President Karzai has repeatedly stressed to the people of Afghanistan about the shame the narcotics industry brings to the country.
According to Mr. Costa, the survey has found that opium cultivation in Afghanistan has decreased by 21 per cent, down from 131.000 hectares in 2004 to 103.000 hectares in 2005.
Mr. Costa attributed this to the Governments success at persuading Afghan farmers to refrain voluntarily from poppy cultivation; to farmers apprehension that the official ban on opium cultivation could be enforced through eradication; and to current market conditions in Afghanistan. Farm-gate prices for raw opium remain relatively low, offering farmers less incentive.
The Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics, Habibullah Qaderi, says he is very encouraged indeed by the results of the UNODC Report for 2005.
– The report shows that Afghanistan has definitely turned the corner in its efforts to eliminate the scourge of narcotics. I am very grateful to all those who have made this possible, especially the farmers who voluntarily changed to growing licit crops, he noted.
While there has been a marked decrease in cultivation, Mr. Costa says that the production of opium has not fallen so much, because of favourable weather conditions in Afghanistan, which also helped the growth of licit crops.
He said the UNODC survey has found that production of Afghan opium in 2005 stands at 4.100 tonnes, only slightly less than the 4.200 tonnes produced in 2004. In 2005, productivity of opium per hectare grew from 32 kilogrammes in 2004 to 39 kilogrammes in 2005.
Provincial Governors eradicated about 4.000 hectares of opium crops in the spring of 2005. The Central Government destroyed another 1.000 hectares under two separate eradication campaigns. In total this accounted for about 5 per cent of this years opium cultivation.
Mr. Costa spoke encouragingly about the success of the Afghan Government in its Counter Narcotics Campaign.
– The fact that in certain provinces of Afghanistan, Nangarhar for example, cultivation has all but disappeared, tells us that the opium economy can be contained, he said adding:
– Temporary gains can be transformed into permanent change by ensuring that food security and income generation programmes coincide with the destruction of opium crops.
For more information, please contact: Elisabeth Bayer, UNODC, Kabul. Tel: (0093-79) 12-9286, [email protected]
or Said Azam, Spokesman, Ministry of Counter Narcotics, Kabul. Tel: 079-097759, [email protected]
Kilde: www.runiceurope.org
