OPIUM POPPY PRODUCTION IN AFGHANISTAN REMAINS HIGH DESPITE RECENT DECLINE, NEW UNITED NATIONS STUDY CONCLUDES
Press Release
SOC/NAR/714
OPIUM POPPY PRODUCTION IN AFGHANISTAN REMAINS HIGH DESPITE RECENT DECLINE, NEW UNITED NATIONS STUDY CONCLUDES
19951017 VIENNA, 17 October (UN Information Service) -- Opium poppy cultivation and yield declined significantly during the 1994-1995 growing season in Afghanistan, according to a recent survey conducted by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).According to the survey, which focused on the extent of opium poppy cultivation in the country's main poppy-growing provinces, Afghanistan's 53,000 to 55,000 hectares of opium poppies have yielded an estimated 2,200 to 2,400 metric tons of dry opium gum this season. Helmand and Nangarhar provinces account for 85 per cent of the production, with yields ranging from 21 to 48 kilogrammes per hectare.
An earlier UNDCP survey in Afghanistan put the 1993-1994 opium poppy production at above 3,000 tons from a cultivation area of some 71,000 hectares. Thus, the overall opium production in Afghanistan decreased significantly over the past year.
According to the Programme, some of the decrease can be attributed to a major opium eradication campaign carried out last November and December by the provincial authorities of Nangarhar. Other contributing factors are increased wheat prices and decreased opium prices resulting from last year's overproduction. To a lesser degree, bad weather and plant diseases also reduced the opium poppy crop. Factors were found to vary from province to province.
Despite this year's substantial reduction in opium production, the UNDCP points out that the current yield of 2,200 to 2,400 tons is still equal to the estimated opium production in the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Lao People's Democratic Republic). The sizeable production in both subregions continues to constitute a major concern to the international community.
If this level of production in Afghanistan is to be brought down to the pre-1978 level of about 200 tons per year, major efforts will be required on the part of the Afghan authorities, rural communities, and relevant bilateral and multilateral programmes active in the country, states the survey. The Programme intends to continue gathering and analyzing data on opium production in Afghanistan and, within the resources available to it, to launch initiatives to address production, processing, trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. Currently, it is formulating a three-year drug control programme for that country.
* *** *