OPIUM production in Afghanistan has almost doubled this year compared to 2016, new research has shown.
The study – compiled by the UN and the Afghan government – also found that areas which are under poppy cultivation rose by 63 per cent. Production increased by 87 per cent and stands at a record level of 9000 metric tons so far in 2017, compared to the 2016 levels of 4800 metric tons.
The Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the area under opium poppy cultivation has also increased to a record 810,488 acres in 2017, compared with the 496,671 acres that cultivated the poppy in 2016.
“It is high time for the international community and Afghanistan to re-prioritise drug control, and to acknowledge that every nation has a shared responsibility for this global problem,” UNODC’s executive director Yury Fedotov said.
The jump in production is mainly a result of the increase in the area under poppy cultivation while a rise in opium yield also contributed. The largest increase came in the south, where the average yield grew by 19 per cent. In the country’s north-eastern region, the yield from the opium poppy rose by 14 per cent.
Researchers said the number of poppy-free provinces in the country decreased from 13 to 10, raising the number of provinces cultivating the poppy from 21 to 24.
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