Poppy growth down 95pc in Afghanistan since Taliban ban: UN

The report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime found that cultivation fell from 233,000ha to 10,800ha this year.

Afghan farmers harvest opium sap in 2016. Picture: AFP

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged by 95 per cent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a UN ­report published on Sunday.

Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made.

The report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime found that poppy cultivation has collapsed by an estimated 95 per cent – from 233,000ha at the end of 2022 to 10,800ha this year. Opium production has followed suit, plummeting from 5624 tonnes to 302 tonnes.

This year’s estimated harvest amounts to 22-34 tonnes of exportable heroin, compared with 317-526 tonnes last year.

The UNODC warned of potential “humanitarian consequences for many vulnerable rural communities” due to the sudden contraction of Afghanistan’s opium economy, as growers have had to turn to far less lucrative alternative crops.

Farmers’ incomes, estimated at $US1.36bn ($2.09bn) in 2022, have fallen by 92 per cent to $US110m this year.

Last year, poppy crops accounted for almost a third by value of total agricultural production in Afghanistan, the world’s leading producer.

“Today, Afghanistan’s people need urgent humanitarian assistance … to absorb the shock of lost income and save lives,” said UNODC executive director Ghada Waly. “For all the other production – cotton, wheat – they need much more water,” she said while the country was experiencing “three years of consecutive drought”.

AFP