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Invisiblebait_
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U.N.: Afghan opium growth 'alarming'
    #7985731 - 02/06/08 07:17 AM (16 years, 1 month ago)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/06/afghanistan.un.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Quote:

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Opium growth in Afghanistan's unstable south and southwest continues at an alarming rate, and is a windfall for anti-government forces who tax farmers, a U.N. report said Wednesday.

The report also predicted a further rise in cannabis cultivation this year.

"Europe, Russia and the countries along the Afghan heroin routes should brace themselves again for major health and security consequences," said Antonio Maria Costa, chie.f of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Overall cultivation of opium -- the main ingredient in heroin -- is likely in 2008 to be similar to or slightly lower than it was in 2007, according to UNODC's latest Afghanistan Opium Winter Rapid Assessment Survey.

"Opium cultivation in Afghanistan may have peaked, but the 2008 amount will be shockingly high," Costa said in a statement.

Unless "prompt actions are taken to prevent cultivation," the report said, poppy crops may be sown before mid-March in parts of northern and central provinces that may otherwise have been poppy-free or seeing decreases in cultivation.

Last year's survey recorded a record 193,000 hectares (477,000 acres) used to grow opium -- a 17 percent jump from 2006. The increase was mainly from large-scale cultivation in the south, particularly in Helmand province, which alone accounted for 53 percent of the total.

But wet weather expected again this year may also push up poppy production, according to the report, which was based on interviews with 469 Afghan village leaders in 265 districts between Dec. 10 and Jan. 14.

The U.N. forecast little change in Helmand, but predicted increases in cultivation in the southern Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, as well as in the western Farah, Badghis and Ghor provinces. A "sharp increase" is predicted in Nimroz province. In contrast, a "sharp decrease" was expected in Nangarhar province.

Twelve of Afghanistan's provinces -- mainly in the central and northern regions -- are likely to remain poppy-free, and decreases recorded elsewhere in the east, north and northeast "may result in an overall decrease in poppy cultivation in 2008," the report said.

Of the 469 villages surveyed, 148 -- or 32 percent -- said they would grow opium poppy in 2008, and in the south 85 percent of villages indicated they would do so, the report said.

Nearly a third of villages said they had received cash advances from drug traffickers to grow poppy.

All respondents in the southern region and 72 percent in the west said they paid taxes -- or "usher" -- to anti-government entities, including mullahs, local commanders and the Taliban, the report said.

Such taxes -- usually 10 percent of a farmer's income -- will total close to US$100 million (euro68 million) this year, Costa said.

"Opium is a massive source of revenue for the Taliban," Costa said, noting that more than three quarters of the country's opium is grown in areas outside the government's control.

"Additional money is raised by running heroin labs and drug exports," Costa said. Respondents in central, north and northeastern regions said, however, they did not pay taxes.

The U.N. report suggested "effective prevention campaigns and eradication efforts" could help control spring cultivation and rid more regions of the crop.

The Senlis Council international policy think tank said, however, that the report showed current counter-narcotics approaches were ineffective and counterproductive, as they mostly involved aggressive crop eradication focused on small farmers.

"To get around that problem, you need short-term economic incentives and solutions, such as trying to make use of the poppy crop for medicinal use, and producing crops with a high market value, such as saffron," said Jorrit Kamminga, Senlis' director of policy research.

However, none of Afghanistan's legal crops -- such as maize, rice or cotton -- can match the income from opium poppies, estimated at 2,000 per acre, the report said.
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In addition to opium, the survey found an increase in marijuana cultivation, with 18 percent of villages planning to grow it in 2008, compared with 13 percent last year, when some 173,000 acres cultivated.

"Another disturbing trend is the steady rise in cannabis cultivation, giving Afghanistan the dubious distinction of being one of the world's biggest suppliers of cannabis besides providing over 90 percent of the world's illicit opium," Costa said.



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Offlinebongoboy2000
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Registered: 02/07/04
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Re: U.N.: Afghan opium growth 'alarming' [Re: bait_]
    #7986251 - 02/06/08 11:14 AM (16 years, 1 month ago)

GOOD. Overgrow the World!
I think a little more weed circulating around the mid-east could only help the situation...


--------------------
...I got nothin..

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