KANDAHAR: Poppy farmer Lal Jan sits among the remains of his destroyed crop and wonders how he will make a living from his parched land, a predicament he shares with thousands of Afghans bearing the brunt of the government's crackdown on narcotic production.
From his village in southern Kandahar province, the 38-year-old says half his crop has been destroyed as part of the nationwide campaign to remove Afghanistan from the top of the list of the world's drug producing nations.
But while the government is hailing the start of the 'jihad' or holy war against drugs a success, farmers who have lost their livelihoods say they now face not only drought but the corruption of officials.
When the narcotics eradication campaign came to Da Kakaro Gosh Khana village last week, the official in charge told the farmers that "a thrown stone knows its target," Lal Jan said. The people whose fields are destroyed will be chosen for a reason, he explained.
"Those farmers who were not paying the police half of the profit of their poppy fields had their crops destroyed," he said, adding that he was going to pay officials to protect the rest of his fields in Mala Jaat area of Dand district.
As the central government's national poppy eradication campaign continues in the districts surrounding Kandahar - even in the hometown of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Karz - farmers claim they are being asked to pay as much as 100 US dollars per 2,000 square meters (half an acre) for protection.
Under a decree issued by Karzai to stifle the Afghan drugs industry, some 25 percent of poppy fields around the country will be destroyed. Government officials, including the president, have said that the campaign is aimed at drug lords and mafia types rather than the poor farmers who harvest the poppies which are later converted into opium and heroin.
However, the struggling farmers say the system is corrupt. "In fact the campaign usually destroys the worst part of the fields and is only authorized to destroy 25 per cent of each poppy field," says poppy grower Mohammed Rahim.
"But when there is a poor farmer or someone who doesn't have links with the eradication campaign members, 50 per cent of his poppy fields and the best part of his fields are destroyed."
The director general of the Counter Narcotics Department Mirwais Yasini, who himself was last week in Kandahar to destroy crops, said the government would take very seriously any allegations of corruption.
However, he said the eradication campaign, so far only begun in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces and eastern Nangarhar, was on track and would soon expand into all areas of the country.
"With regard to our targets, it's going very well," Yasini said. When visited Da Kakaro Gosh Khana village after half its total poppy crops had been destroyed, farmers said they would struggle to make a living from other crops because of drought and a lack of resources.
"Since there is no water, no tractors and no rain we cannot afford any other crop except the fields of poppy," said Faiz Mohammed. Lal Jan said that he had grown poppies because the market for other products was not good.
"Last year I and (fellow farmer) Faiz Mohammed grew onions and okra on this destroyed field of poppy for six months," he said. "We spent 13,500 Afghanis on our field but gained 17,000 Afghanis in total income."
"So, when we counted the money we had gained in the entire six months only 2,500 Afghanis (50 US dollars)." Lal Jan and Faiz Mohammed said they would have rebuilt their destroyed houses if they had not lost their crops. -AFP
