LASHKARGAH (SW): Reports emerging from southern Helmand province indicate that the yield for this year’s poppy crop is many times more than last year’s.
Officials at the counter-narcotics department in Helmand said that poppy cultivation in the second season of the year have significantly increased. They said that most farmers have grown poppy in the northern districts in Helmand province.
Lal Mohammad Azizi, Head of Counter-Narcotics Department in Helmand, said that no program was effectively implemented to curb cultivation of poppy in this province.
Farmers, on the other hand, said that the reason why they grew poppy was lack of other sources of income. They added that in this season, government was least focused on curbing poppy. They blamed the government for not keeping its promises in providing alternative to poppy cultivation.
The farmers said if the government provided job opportunities to them, they wouldn’t have cultivated poppy. Poppy crops are seen more lucrative than wheat for instance.
In the summer season alone, farmers have cultivated poppy at around 10000 hectares of land but the officials in the counter-narcotics department in Helmand said that the government only managed to eradicate poppy at 3000 hectares of land.
Despite millions of dollars channeled to crack down poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, the country is still considered one of the top producers of opium in the world. Helmand is a southern province in Afghanistan, which produces 95% of opium in the country.
ENDS
