KABUL (SW) – The latest findings by the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics claim poppy cultivation in the country has dropped by 20 per cent.
Salamat Azimi, minister for the MoCN, said the production of drugs has also declined significantly in comparison to the previous year. She said the drug production has declined by 29 per cent. The minister said 328,000 hectares of poppy were cultivated last year, but it has dropped to 263,000 hectares this year.
Abdul Jalil Bakhtiar, director for counter-narcotics at the Ministry of Interior, said on the occasion that this year, 3074 operations have been conducted to eradicate poppy cultivation and production throughout the country. According to him, 3,527 suspects have been arrested and 30 drug labs destroyed this year.
The ministry's findings also show that the relative yield of opium this year dropped from 27.3 kilograms per hectare to 24.4 kilos, down 11 per cent from last year.
These findings also indicate a fall in the value of opium production in farms. According to the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics, the value of opium production on farms was around $ 1.4 billion last year, and this year, it was around $ 0.6 billion, down 56 percent.
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