U.N.: Afghan Poppy Planting On Rise

Cultivation of opium poppies has increased in large areas of Afghanistan, raising fears there could be another bumper crop this year, a government and U.N. survey said.

Widespread eradication of poppies is needed in the coming months leading up to harvest time in the world's top producer of opium and its derivative, heroin, officials warned Monday.

Farmers are planting more opium poppies than last year in 13 provinces, while cultivation levels are stable in 16 provinces and have dropped in only three, the Ministry of Counternarcotics and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in a statement.

"We are concerned about these trends," UNODC representative Doris Buddenberg said.

But Counternarcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi said he was optimistic that widespread eradication and programs encouraging poppy farmers to switch to legal crops would cause illegal cultivation to drop by year's end.

The survey was carried out in December and January, the start of the poppy growing season, it said. Another survey will be done at the end of the season in autumn.

Afghanistan is the source of nearly 90 percent of the world's opium and heroin — even though the international community has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into fighting the trade since the hard-line Taliban regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

News of the increased cultivation comes after last year's drop of between 21 percent and 48 percent in the number of acres used to grow poppies, according to separate surveys by the United Nations and U.S. State Department.

Monday's survey said there were dramatic increases in poppy cultivation in seven provinces, including Helmand in the south, where about 3,000 British soldiers are being deployed later this year to combat a rising Taliban-led insurgency and the drug trade.

The rebels are believed partially funded by the narco-gangs, and have warned that they will attack government forces if they eradicate opium poppies in the region.

Qaderi said hundreds of acres of poppies already had been cleared.

"This is already showing results in some provinces, and I believe we can expect to see it have an impact on cultivation levels elsewhere in the country as the campaign and the year progresses," he said.

Buddenberg cautioned against expectations that the drug trade can be quickly curtailed.

"Counternarcotics is a long-term process, which must be based first of all on an overall development approach, and this takes a long time," she said. "Such an approach must also be coupled with law enforcement, to go after those who control the drug business."

Afghanistan's government has been criticized for not being tough enough on the burgeoning drugs trade amid warnings the country is fast becoming a "narco-state." A number of senior government and police officials and former warlords are suspected of involvement in the business.