World News Story

08 January 2009 21:46 BST

Opium production in Afghanistan down

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has fallen from last year, the United Nations (UN) has announced.

The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008, released today, shows a 19 per cent decrease in cultivation of the drug, down to 157,000 hectares from 193,000 in 2007.

Potential opium production also fell from 8,200 metric tonnes to 7,700 metric tonnes.

The UN says more than half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces were now poppy-free – 18, up from 13 last year.

The southern Helmand province, where the Taliban is known to be active, accounts for almost 66 per cent of all Afghanistan's opium production however.

Afghanistan is the world's chief producer of opium, used to produce heroin.

"Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tonnes. This year the opium flood waters have started to recede," said the executive director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa.

"If Helmand were a country, it would once again be the world’s biggest producer of illicit drugs.

"There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of high opium cultivation," Mr Costa added.

"Since drugs are funding insurgency, and insurgency enables drug cultivation, insurgency and narcotics must be fought together."

According to the UN report, 98 per cent of the country's opium is grown in just seven provinces, where the Taliban is known to have established permanent settlements.

Mr Costa called for an end to internal corruption helping the opium market thrive in Afghanistan.

"Corrupt officials, landowners, warlords and criminals must feel the full force of the law, otherwise the opium economy will continue to operate with impunity, and the Taliban will continue to profit from it", he said.

"This is also the world's responsibility."