Afghan farmers stick to growing opium in the face of less lucrative options

"We don't get enough money if we grow wheat or other crops,"<br /> said Mohammad Nadir

KANDAHAR: Afghan farmers are busy in their poppy fields as the annual opium harvest begins, underscoring the government's failure to stamp out a
crop that yields much of the world's supply of heroin.

Aided by corrupt bureaucrats, smugglers and Taliban fighters, the farmers help maintain an annual supply of about 9,000 metric tons to international markets, producing bumper crops despite government efforts to deter cultivation.

"We don't get enough money if we grow wheat or other crops,"
said Mohammad Nadir, 35, as he gathered the crop he planted last
year on two acres of land in the southern province of Kandahar.



It is Afghanistan's second major centre of cultivation of
the opium poppy after the neighbouring province of Helmand, and
a hotbed of activity by Taliban militants.

Nadir scraped the gum from poppy bulbs into plastic
containers to be used in making opium, heroin and other drugs.

His annual yield will generate more than $3,000 in income.
That compares with a take of less than $1,000 if he switches to
growing wheat on the same land, as authorities hope.

But Nadir will have to share his profit with the Taliban, in
exchange for which they protect poppy fields and find domestic
and international smugglers to sell the illegal produce.

The insurgents extract a large share of their revenues from
narcotics, a trade the United Nations values at roughly $3
billion a year in Afghanistan.

Despite years of effort to replace it, the banned crop is a
vital part of the south Asian nation's economy. Opium production
hit a record in 2017, up 87 per cent over 2016, the UN says.

Last year, the government distributed more than 10,000
tonnes of seeds to farmers to persuade them to grow wheat along
with 20,000 tonnes of urea, widely used as fertiliser for
foodgrains.

Many farmers collected seeds to grow wheat but did not plant
them, said Akbar Rustami, a spokesman for the agriculture
ministry in Kabul, the capital.

"We tried to discourage farmers from sowing poppy seeds but
they continue to ignore our orders because they want to earn
more money," he said. Worsening security and immediate economic benefits for farmers fuel the spurt in poppy cultivation, experts say. More than 3,000 square kilometres (1,158 square miles) of
arable land was under poppy cultivation last year, the
counter-narcotics ministry said.



It launched more than 500 criminal cases against farmers and
civil servants for allowing illegal cultivation. American and Afghan forces have begun a campaign of air strikes against drug refining and manufacturing laboratories in southwestern Afghanistan, aiming to choke off Taliban revenue.

Yet security concerns hamper efforts to run nationwide
inspections, officials say. "We need a special task force to stop farmers from sowing poppy," said Najibullah Ahmadi, who oversees the drive to ban poppy cultivation.

"We need helicopters to conduct aerial
surveillance." The government has failed to provide alternate sources of income, said Nadir, the farmer in Kandahar, who worries about
providing for his five children.

"We want the government to find us jobs and pave the ground
for alternative farming. If there is a good alternative, there
won't be any need for cultivating poppy anymore."