Poppy cultivation has recently been reported as nearly the lowest level in the country. A free and independent report from an illicit drugs expert David Mansfield citing satellite imagery, said that in Afghanistan, poppy cultivation has been reduced to levels not seen since 2001. The decrease, in fact, has happened after the efforts of the Islamic Emirate two years ago. According to the report, in the country’s south, growing poppies has been down by at least 80% compared with last year, after the Islamic Emirate banned the growing of poppies for opium. “In fact, high-resolution imagery shows that in the province of Helmand, poppy cultivation has fallen from more than 120,000 hectares in 2022 to less than 1,000 hectares in 2023 – a reduction in this one province alone that surpasses any prior national poppy ban in Afghanistan,” the report posted online by an organization that provides geographic information services, said. The fact-based report, like what few days ago, from the World Bank, released about the reduction of inflation in the country, would further help strengthen relations and interaction between Afghanistan under the Islamic Emirate and the international community. The independent report released by Alcis is welcomed and other organizations are asked to accurately release such acknowledgments about the improvement made recently in Afghanistan, under the leadership of the Islamic Emirate since the takeover of the country, nearly two years ago. The nascent Islamic system is gradually stepping up towards improvement, as it wants to bring comprehensive reforms in any field, including fighting drugs, insurgency and all types of illegal and criminal activities in the country. Efforts are now being made in two fields; critically fighting drug cultivation, production and trafficking on one side and on the other, drug addicts are being collected and taken to the rehabilitation centers in most major provinces of the country. Also, there is a need for the international community’s assistance to help the Islamic Emirate overcome poverty emanated from long years of drought in the land-locked country. On the other side, the Islamic Emirate should provide other alternatives such as improved seeds, saffron onions and other agricultural hardware and equipment to encourage the farmers to avoid the cultivation of poppy in the country. Cultivation of wheat, as the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock’s data shows, was increased by 10 to 40 percent last year compared to the previous years. The poppy cultivation was reportedly reduced by more than 99% in Helmand province, which “previously produced more than 50% of the country’s opium as the Ministry of Interior has conducted more than 6,000 counter-narcotic operations in the country. This is the responsibility of the government to extend water canals for the irrigation of more farmlands to be used by the farmers to cultivate wheat and other legal and prolific crops to feed their families. In many parts of the country, farmers are regularly cultivating an insufficient portion of their lands with crops like onion, garlic, tomato and other lawful crops, but will not raise enough income to feed, clothe and support healthcare for a ten-member family. The reason behind it is the lack of enough water for irrigation of the entire land under the farmer’s use during the cultivation season. Farmers should also avoid the cultivation of poppy and resort to the use of legal crops and seeds to help reduce the level of addiction in the country on one side and popularize the cultivation of legitimate crops in the country on the other.
