Afghanistan’s Opium Poppy Cultivation Down 95 Percent Following Drug Ban

KABUL, Nov 5 (NNN-ANA) – The opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has dropped by an estimated 95 percent, since the country’s caretaker government imposed a drug ban in Apr, 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said, today.

According to the organisation’s report, opium cultivation of the once world’s biggest opium producer, fell from 233,000 hectares to just 10,800 hectares this year, leading to a 95-percent drop in the supply of opium, from 6,200 tonnes in 2022, to 333 tonnes this year.

The farmer’s income from selling the opium harvest has resultantly decreased by more than one billion U.S. dollars, according to the report.

Many farmers turned to cultivating wheat instead, with an overall increase of 160,000 hectares in cereal cultivation across the Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, and Nangarhar provinces, the report noted.

– NNN-ANA