October 20, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 2, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: United Nations on Wednesday said that opium and poppy cultivation has witnessed significant reduction under the Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

Results of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) Annual Opium Poppy Survey released by the UN drug agency’s chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bernard Frahi, revealed that the area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has reduced from 100,000 hectares in 1994 to less than 10,000 hectares in 2001. He said that UNDCP’s ability to work successfully in Afghanistan would depend on the new regime which would be installed in the post-Taliban scenario being worked out by the international community.

According to the report, the Taliban banned the cultivation of opium poppy for the next planting season throughout the areas under their control on July 27, 2000.

“Since the start of planting season in October 2000, there were reports that the ban is being implemented seriously and farmers were refraining from cultivation of opium poppy. Fields in which poppy seed were planted, wheat and vegetables is being sown.”

Speaking on the occasion, UNDCP chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the results indicate that a total of 185 metric tons of raw opium were produced in the current year, 94 per cent less than the output in 2000 of 3,276 tonnes and 96 per cent less than the bumper harvest of 4,581 tonnes reported by the 1999 survey.

The annual survey is a ground-based census which visits all villages which are known to have cultivated poppy in the past, or which have recently commenced poppy cultivation. UNDCP has been carrying out its yearly surveys since 1994.

The UNDCP chief said that at the time of the survey, prices for fresh and dry opium showed great increases over the past year.

The average farm-gate price for fresh opium at the time of harvest as reported by the farmers in different provinces was US $301 per kilogramme, a 10-fold increase from last year’s average price of US$30 per kilogramme.

The potential gross income from the sale of fresh opium by farmers is around US$56 million, which is approximately 38 per cent less than last year’s estimate of US$91 million.

In response to a question about reports of drug dealers dumping extra opium into Pakistani markets and reduction in the drug prices, Mr Frahi said that the prices of opium have shown a decline since August. He said that based on information received $600 per kilogramme. In mid-September, the prices came down to US $180 per kilogramme while in October opium was selling at US$90 per kg.

Answering a question, he said that Pakistan has 1.5 million drug addicts, of which 0.5 million are said to be heroin addicts.

Preliminary data of the opium survey for Afghanistan for 2001 suggests that the sharp reduction in production this year in Afghanistan has not been offset by increases in other areas or countries. The reductions are clearly the result of the implementation of an opium poppy ban by the Taliban authorities.

The area under cultivation in 2001 was estimated to be 7,606 hectares. This represents a reduction of 91 per cent from the last year’s estimate of 82,172 hectares. Helmand, which had 42,853 hectares, under poppy last year, recorded no poppy cultivation in the 2001 season.

Nangarhar, the second highest cultivating province last year with 19,747 hectares is reported to have 218 hectares this year. While there has been a sharp reduction in most former major opium poppy-growing areas, an increase in the area under cultivation has taken place mainly in two provinces of Badakhshan and Samangan.

In Badakhshan, there has been an increase from 2,458 hectares last year to 6,342 hectares. In Samangan, there has been an increase from 54 hectares in 2000 to 614 hectares this year. Although the increase in Badakhshan is cause for concern, it needs to be seen in the perspective of a 91 per cent decrease in cultivation in the country.

This year, more villages were surveyed in Badakhshan to spot the possible displacement of poppy cultivation. The province of Samangan was surveyed for the first time in this survey, after information on poppy cultivation was received from the World Food Programme (WFP).

In 2001, 10,030 villages in 160 districts in 23 provinces were surveyed, which makes the survey more comprehensive, covering 2,489 more villages than last year.

The four provinces with the largest cultivation of opium poppy in 2001 were identified as Badakhshan with 6,342 hectares or 83 per cent of the total opium poppy area, Samangan with 614 hectares or 8 per cent, Nangarhar with 218 hectares or 3 per cent and Takhar with 211 hectares or 3 per cent of the total poppy area.

In the year 2000, the four provinces with the largest cultivation of opium poppy were Helmand with 42,853 hectares or 52 per cent of the total poppy area, Nangarhar with 19,747 hectares or 24 per cent, Oruzgan with 4,331 hectares or 5.3 per cent and Kandahar with 3,427 hectares or 4.2 per cent of the total poppy area.