UK university helps UN develop AI programme to monitor Afghanistan’s opium cultivation

The Cranfield University in the United Kingdom said on Monday that their researchers are helping the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) powered programme that would monitor the crops used for illicit opium production in Afghanistan. According to the university, theAI programme would interpret data from satellites to track where the poppy cultivation, used for drug production, takes place.

The university shared the news months after the UN agency conducted a survey which showed that opium cultivation in Afghanistan was up by 32 per cent, it was also the first report since the Taliban had banned the cultivation of opium poppy and all narcotics in April 2022, after they took over the year before. At least 80 per cent of all illicit opium is produced in Kabul, the UNODC said and this increase in cultivation madelast year'scrop the third largest area under cultivation since monitoring began.

ALSO READ |Taliban running campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan

Add WION as a Preferred Source

“This is a hugely significant project to be involved with. In terms of Afghanistan, we’re talking about opium production on a grand scale – something like the combined size of 500,000 rugby pitches – so a huge amount of cultivation,” said Dr Daniel Simms, a professor in Remote Sensing at Cranfield University. He also noted how automating the monitoring process would save many hours. The partnership between the UN and the university will last until July 2023.

ALSO WATCH |Gravitas: Taliban chops off the hands of four men, flogs couple for pre-marital sex

According to the UNODC findings, since the Taliban imposed the ban, opium prices have soared while the income of farmers from opium sales grew three-fold from 2021 to 2022.

“The international community must work to address the acute needs of the Afghan people, and to step up responses to stop the criminal groups trafficking heroin and harming people in countries around the world,” the UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly had said when the findings were published, in November.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.