"Unless we embrace 'TRUTH' and recognize 'EVIL', we will find NO Resolutions to 'PEACE".......
--- On Tue, 8/26/08, UNN...@un.org <UNN...@un.org> wrote:
From: UNN...@un.org <UNN...@un.org>
Subject: OPIUM CULTIVATION IN AFGHANISTAN DROPS BY A FIFTH, FINDS UN SURVEY
To: new...@secint00.un.org
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 12:11 PM
OPIUM CULTIVATION IN AFGHANISTAN DROPS BY A FIFTH, FINDS UN SURVEY
New York, Aug
26 2008 1:10PM
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has gone down by a fifth as
compared to last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
reported today, attributing the decrease to good local leadership coupled with
bad weather.
The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008 showed a 19 per cent decrease in opium
cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007,
according to a news release issued by
<"http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/opium-cultivation-in-afghanistan-down-by-a-fifth.html">UNODC.
“Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tons,” noted
UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. “This year the opium flood
waters have started to recede.”
The survey also found that 18 of the country’s 34 provinces are now
opium-free – up from 13 last year. In addition, cultivation now takes place
“almost exclusively” in provinces affected by insurgency. Some 98 per cent
of Afghanistan’s opium is grown in seven provinces in the southwest of the
country – Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Farah, Nimroz, Daykundi and Zabul.
Helmand alone accounted for two thirds of the national total. “If Helmand
were a country, it would once again be the world’s biggest producer of illicit
drugs,” stated Mr. Costa.
“There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of
high opium cultivation,” said Mr. Costa. “Since drugs are funding
insurgency, and insurgency enables drug cultivation, insurgency and narcotics
must be fought together,” he said.
At the other end of the spectrum is Nangarhar, which in 2007 was the
country’s second highest opium-producing province and this year is opium-free.
UNODC attributed the drop in cultivation to good local leadership and the
drought which has affected the north and northwest of the country. It said that
strong leadership by some governors discouraged farmers from planting opium
through campaigns against its cultivation, peer pressure and the promotion of
alternative development.
While lauding the recent gains, UNODC is urging that everything be done to help
the country continue to reduce opium cultivation, from providing farmers with
viable alternatives to opium and closing heroin labs to going after drug
traffickers and cracking down on corruption.
“Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the latest
food crisis has made farmers even more vulnerable,” noted Mr. Costa. “Opium
is a seasonal plant. “It may be gone today, but back again tomorrow.”
2008-08-26 00:00:00.000
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