KABUL, Oct 8: The number of Afghan families growing cannabis as a cash crop leapt by over a third last year, the United Nations has said.

The increase adds to the drug-control problem in a country that is already the world’s top producer of opium.

Prices for the best quality resin have nearly tripled since 2009, to $95 a kilo, adding to the lure of a crop that can earn farmers even more than opium poppies. It is also is generally looked on more leniently by authorities bent on cutting drug crops. As a result, Afghanistan’s importance as a source of cannabis resin for world markets may be growing, the report warns, even as other producers, such as Morocco, are growing asmaller share.

Afghan farmers were expected to produce around 1,300 tonnes of cannabis in 2011, the Afghanistan cannabis survey estimated. That is a similar amount to the previous two years, but with many more farmers turning to the crop.

By arrangement with the Guardian