March 06, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 16, 1428

KABUL: Afghanistan's opium crop could increase again this year after production of the illicit drug saw a record 50 per cent jump in 2006, the United Nations warned on Monday.

“This winter survey suggests that opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2007 may not be lower than the record harvest of 165,000 hectares in 2006,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report.

Poppy cultivation had increased in several southern, eastern and western provinces including insurgency-hit Helmand, the biggest poppy cultivating region, it said.—AFP