Efforts to limit poppy crop lose ground in Afghanistan October 22, 2007 - mcall.com
Both American officials and Afghan farmers are already thinking about next year's poppy crop. After the biggest opium harvest in Afghanistan's history, published reports earlier this month indicate that American officials have renewed their efforts to persuade the government of President Hamid Karzai to begin spraying herbicide on opium poppies.
Until now, Karzai's government has remained adamantly opposed to a spraying program. And here in the Shawol area of Nad Ali, one of Helmand's main centers of poppy cultivation, farmers like Rahim Gul are betting Washington won't succeed in changing Karzai's mind. These farmers are already hard at work preparing for next year's harvest.
Helmand province is far and away the largest single producer of opium in the world. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that close to half of the heroin on the streets of Europe originates in this one province. This year, the U.N. reports that Helmand harvested its largest crop to date, an estimated 4,400 tons. That represents a 57 percent increase over the previous year.
If anything, officials believe next year's harvest will be even bigger. While U.S. officials are pressing for the use of herbicides, most eradication efforts have consisted of trying to convince local farmers to substitute other crops for poppies. Few farmers, however, have made the switch.
''To be honest, this alternative livelihood thing is not really a certainty for us,'' said one farmer. ''It will never replace poppy. Poppy is a good crop for us. It makes us lots of money and helps us get back on our feet sooner. I have never seen anyone else trying to help us.'' The farmers' deep-seated suspicion of the Karzai government has also made them reluctant to participate in eradication programs.
In Helmand's warm, dry climate, poppy is sown in the autumn and harvested in the spring. On a bright autumn day in Nad Ali, farmers were out with rakes and tractors preparing their fields for planting.
Hossein, who like many in Afghanistan uses only one name, was among them. He said he doesn't see anything wrong with growing raw material for illegal drugs. ''Why not? We make good money.''
He also claimed that no one from the government had ever tried to convince him to switch crops. ''This is all nonsense,'' he said. ''No one in this village has heard about this, and no one has offered to help us.''
Even Ghulam Nabi, the head of the province's department for agriculture, is skeptical of such alternative crop programs.
''The department does not have the resources to help farmers with alternative livelihoods,'' he said. ''We did give pepper and tomato seedlings to some farmers in neighboring districts last year, but it definitely wasn't enough.''
Nabi praised organizations such as the Central Asia Development Group, which are working in Helmand to provide assistance to farmers.
''But it is too little for the whole of Helmand,'' he added. ''We need a large amount of international aid and support. Sending some seedlings to a few villages isn't sufficient.''
The problem ''is bigger than our department,'' he said. ''It is bigger than our entire ministry. And it needs international coordination.''
Barry Kavanagh, an adviser with Britain's Department for International Development, noted that the international community is already spending hundreds of millions of dollars on efforts to convince Afghan farmers to grow other crops.
But even he admitted that all that money still may not be enough.
''The complexity of the problem here is that poppy produces a lot more money than wheat or cotton,'' he said. ''The farmers are more inclined to go for the big economic return. We need to show them that there are options away from poppy, which is illegal and causes harm to the people of Afghanistan.
''We need to get farmers to think about having a moral conscience,'' he said. ''If we can help them grow another crop that can give them a good income and sustain their families, then that is the choice they should be making.''
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