WASHINGTON, March 1: A US government agency reported on Monday that opium crop in Pakistan rose to approximately 2,500-3,000 hectares from 622 hectares in 2002.

The State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement said it has collected this information through aerial and ground survey and praised the government of Pakistan for its continued "excellent cooperation."

The bureau described the increase as "modest" compared to a record growth in neighbouring Afghanistan but said it was significant because in 2001 the United Nations had declared Pakistan a "poppy-free nation."

Information collected from the US Embassy Narcotics Affairs Section, the NWFP Home Department, and the Anti-Narcotics Task force indicated that the opium poppy crop remaining in NWFP was in the range of 2,000-2,600 hectares after eradication of some 1893 hectares. The ANF estimated that approximately 500 hectares in Baluchistan remained after eradication of 2,289 hectares.

"The increase is troubling, not only because cultivation increased overall but also because it expanded into new areas in Orakzai, Kurram, and North and South Waziristan in NWFP and Gulistan and Qila Abdullah in Baluchistan," the report said.