The new report, the Afghanistan Opium Survey for 2013, projects that the land area used for opium cultivation in Afghanistan, long the dominant supplier of most of the world’s heroin, reached a historic high in 2013 of 516,000 acres, a 36 percent increase from 2012. Now, 19 of the country’s 34 provinces are opium growers, also an increase, and overall production was up by almost half — 49 percent — from the previous year, according to the report, officially released on Wednesday… The international community and the Afghan government have differed on how to combat the problem. Afghan officials often emphasize efforts to reduce demand in other countries. The American government alone has spent more than $6 billion to curb opium production since 2001, including crop eradication programs and subsidies for alternative crops. But those efforts have faltered. Alternative crops cannot command the sort of prices even to farmers that opium does, especially after shortages led to historically high prices in 2012. And the NATO-led coalition has abandoned any crop eradication by its soldiers for fear of driving farmers over to the insurgents, a policy strongly criticized by the Russians, among others. Among the biggest beneficiaries of the illicit opium economy have been the Taliban. The militants have opposed eradication efforts in order to build support among farmers in rural areas crucial to their insurgency, particularly in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. And where opium is produced in areas where they are prevalent, they assess a 10 percent tax on it, a major source of finance for their activities, officials said.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:40:59 +0000