World Bank Report Urges Afghan Rural Development To Counter Opium Cultivation
The world needs to invest more than 2 billion US dollar (ca. 10 milliarder DKR) in irrigation, roads and other rural development in Afghanistan to lure farmers away from booming opium cultivation, a development bank report said Tuesday.
The Afghanistan: Economic Incentives and Development Initiatives to Reduce Opium Production report, by the World Bank and UK-based Department for International Development (DfID), argued that the drug trade can only be combated if impoverished farmers have other means of making a living.
The report called for the boosting of community-based development projects, expanded irrigation, increased use of livestock, and help for rural businesses and entrepreneurs.
It recommends investments of 1,2 billion dollar to expand irrigated land, 550 million to boost rural enterprise development, and 400 million for rural road planning, construction and maintenance.
Afghanistan called on Tuesday for more help to stamp out opium production as donor nations gathered in Tokyo to try to coordinate policy on the struggling nation. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the worlds opium, used to make heroin, and the industry provides income for hundreds of thousands of Afghans.
Opium trade tends to flourish in remote or unstable areas, where there are few other economic opportunities, according to the report co-authored by DfID. Experts say the problem is concentrated in the south and west of the country.
The report says it is very hard to make any progress in Helmand Province (hvor de danske styrker befinder sig, red.), where most opium poppies are grown, because of the scale of the fighting. It says opium is Afghanistans leading economic activity, equivalent to one-third of the non-drug economy.
The report says there is a need for far more consistency of approach, persistence in the face of setbacks and massive coordinated and sustained investment. But this is a daunting challenge for the government, as well as its donor partners.
There have been some successes – half as many provinces grow opium poppies this year as last – but the report says there are ominous signs that the drugs business is increasingly linked to insecurity. That makes it hard to run effective development programs across about a third of the Afghan countryside.
Shortly before the meeting began, the World Bank and the British government issued a joint report calling for improved coordination among donors to increase effectiveness of aid in Afghanistan.
– Assistance is fragmented, with 62 donors, many with their own distinct security, political and development interests, said Alastair McKechnie, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan, adding: – Coordination requires strong leadership from governments.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
