Opium productions falls in afghanistan for 2nd year in a row

[greenie]

KABUL (AFP) – Opium production in Afghanistan is expected to drop for a second year in 2009, in part because of falling prices in a saturated market, a UN and Afghan government survey said Sunday.
But the lucrative crop could bounce back if deteriorating security is not checked, said the annual report released at a press conference.
"Following the 19 percent reduction in opium cultivation in 2008, the 2009 Opium Winter Rapid Assessment anticipates a further decrease in opium cultivation," the report said.
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's opium.
Production last year was 157,000 hectares (387,950 acres), most of it in the volatile southern and southwestern areas of the rugged nation, where Taliban extremists have a strong presence.
The report, based on surveys of 484 villages -- around 1.6 percent of the total -- gave no figures for the anticipated decline, but said none of the 34 provinces was expected to increase cultivation.
The number of provinces that could be declared free of opium poppies may rise from 18 to 22 if the government properly carries out programmes to eradicate illegal crops, it said.
Most Afghan opium is turned into heroin inside the impoverished country before being smuggled to Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The trade puts millions of dollars in the hands of extremist insurgents every year and feeds rampant government corruption.
Wiping out the crop has been a key component of international efforts to stabilise Afghanistan -- called a "narco state" by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this month -- since the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Afghanistan's counternarcotics minister, General Khoidad, said he was particularly pleased that "for the first time in the past five years we see decrease in the south."
This area, most notably the volatile province of Helmand, would still account for about 90 percent of cultivation, the survey said.
The declines in the south were due largely to higher prices of wheat, low opium prices and severe drought, UN Office on Drugs and Crime executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in the report.
The fall in prices "can be attributed to the massive glut on the opium market due to major overproduction during the past three years," he said.
Average prices for dry opium have plunged about 25 percent over the year from about 113 dollars a kilogramme in 2008 to about 85 dollars a kilogramme this year, the report said.
Wheat, the staple food in Afghanistan, was meanwhile up to 60 cents/kg, an increase of 49 percent from last year, it said.
The report warned, however, that in the south, "Farmers may bounce back with high opium cultivation if opium prices rise and the current insecurity situation prevails."
Declines in cultivation in northern and eastern areas were due to government pressure against production and the presence of legitimate governance, it said.
Khoidad, the minister, reiterated calls for soldiers deployed to Afghanistan
in a NATO-led force to play a greater role in fighting opium trafficking.
International troops "must take part in interdiction, must hit the labs... because drug dealers, drug traffickers, terrorism, Al-Qaeda they are the same, they are the enemy of the people of Afghanistan," he said.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force of about 55,000 troops has signalled its intention to play a stronger role in fighting drugs, including targeting key players who use the crop to fund the insurgency.
UN Special Representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide said the expected decline must be used by the government and its donors to make further progress in the fight.
He called for backing for programmes that reward areas recording a decline with development projects, support for farmers and the mobilisation of religious and community leaders to speak out against drugs.

85 bucks a kilo huh?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090201...wLX4dDtOcBxg8F

[squizzlix]

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ShroomGuerilla]

Afghanistan would not be the best opium-tourist destination.
Nepal is nice...

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They are saying that drug dealers are the same as the taliban...Give me a break.