Opium cultivation up by one-third in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, UN agency warns

Opium crop cultivation in Afghanistan grew by 32 per cent in 2022 amid multiple humanitarian and economic crises faced by the Taliban-ruled nation since the extremist group stormed into power in Kabul last August, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a report published Tuesday.

The UNODC report added that the income made by Afghan farmers from opium sales more than tripled, from $425 million in 2021 to $1.4 billion in 2022. However, this does not translate into purchasing power for farmers since food prices in Afghanistan reportedly rose by 35 per cent since Taliban’s takeover of the seat of power in Kabul.

The Taliban, however, had banned all cultivation of opium poppy and related narcotics plantations in April 2022. This year’s cultivation was exempted from the decree, the UNODC statement said. The 2022 harvest can be converted into 350-380 tons of heroin of export quality, UNDP said, at 50-70 per cent purity, the UNDP said.

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WATCH :Crippling dry spell grips war-torn Afghanistan

Opium is the essential ingredient for manufacturing Heroin, a street drug whose illicit abuse causes widespread addiction issues and dire health crises across the world.

Opiate Trafficking unabated since Taliban’s takeover

According to UNODC’s Drugs Monitoring Platform, the seizure events of opioids in Afghanistan suggest that the opiate trafficking from Afghanistan has been ongoing without interruption since August 2022.

“Afghan farmers are trapped in the illicit opiate economy, while seizure events around Afghanistan suggest that opiate trafficking continues unabated,” said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly.

Nearly 80 per cent of all opiate users in the world source it out of Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)

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