Farmers in Afghanistan lose over $1 billion in income after Taliban ban poppy cultivation

Farmers in Afghanistan have lost an income of more than $1 billion from the sale of opium after the Taliban banned poppy cultivation, a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Sunday (Nov 5). As per the report, opium cultivation fell throughout Afghanistan to just 10,800 hectares this year from 233,000 hectares in 2022, slashing supply by 95% to 333 tons.

The UNODC said that this sharp decline was putting pressure on farmers, and it could have major consequences for the economy in a country where around two-thirds of the population is already in need of humanitarian aid.

The UN agency also warned of "humanitarian consequences for many vulnerable rural communities" due to the sudden contraction of the opium economy, as growers turned to far less lucrative alternative crops such as wheat.

'Afghanistan in dire need of strong investment'

In a statement,UNODC's Executive Director Ghada Waly said that Afghans need urgent humanitarian assistance to meet their most immediate needs, absorb the shock of lost income, and save lives.

"Over the coming months Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghan farmers with opportunities away from opium," Waly said.

"This presents a real opportunity to build towards long-term results against the illicit opium market and the damage it causes both locally and globally," she added.

Afghanistan world's biggest opium producer before Taliban takeover

Before the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, the country had been the biggest opium producer globally and a major source of heroin in Europe and Asia. Taliban imposed a ban on opium poppy cultivation in April last year, dealing a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of farmers and day labourers who relied on proceeds from the crop to survive.

In its report, the UNODC also said that a huge contraction in the supply of opium from Afghanistan could eventually lead to a drop in its use internationally, but it also risked escalating the global use of alternatives such as fentanyl or synthetic opioids.

Another report from the UN drugs agency in September said that Afghanistan was the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, with seizures of the synthetic drug increasing as poppy cultivation shrank.