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Bumper poppy-crop expected
05/03/2007 16:32 - (SA)
Kabul - Afghanistan's opium crop could increase again this year after production of the illicit drug saw a record 50% jump in 2006, the United Nations warned on Monday.
"This winter survey suggests that opium cultivation in Afghanistan in 2007 may not be lower than the record harvest of 165 000ha in 2006," the UN office on drugs and crime (UNODC) said in a report.
Poppy cultivation had increased in several southern, eastern and western provinces including insurgency-hit Helmand, the biggest poppy cultivating region, it said.
"The situation is worse in Afghanistan's richly fertile yet highly unstable southern provinces. "Bear in mind that this region accounted for more than 50% of all opium cultivated in Afghanistan last year," the report said.
- AFP
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