15 Oct 2015, 06:08 am Print
The findings show that the area under opium poppy cultivation in 2015 is around 183,000 hectares (ha), compared with 224,000 ha in 2014, while the cultivation area has decreased for the first time since 2009.
“I hope the survey will serve to inform policies and efforts to build on these hard-won achievements,” said UNODC’s Executive Director Yury Fedotov in a press release, adding that sustaining progress "depends on the resolve of the Afghan Government, and on the international community, which must devote the needed resources and make a long-term commitment to addressing a threat that imperils all our societies.”
The survey further notes that in 2015, potential opium production in Afghanistan amounts to 3,300 tons, a decrease of 48 per cent from its 2014 level (6,400 tons). The average opium yield meanwhile is at 18.3 kilograms per hectare (p/ha) - 36 per cent less than in 2014 (28.7 kilograms p/ha).
Meanwhile, UNODC reports that Hilmand, with some 86,400 ha (47 per cent of the national total), remains the country’s major opium-cultivating province. This is followed by Farah (21,106 ha), Kandahar (21,020 ha), and Badghis (12,391 ha).
The UN is also highlighting that as in previous years, the available technology used to conduct the crop monitoring and assessment between 2014 and 2015 has again been refined and sharpened, leading to greater accuracy of estimates but which may have an impact on the extent of year-on-year changes.
Regarding the southern region, it reportedly has the country’s largest share of national opium production with 58 per cent recorded, which equals some 1,900 metric tons (MT). UNODC finds Afghanistan’s second most important opium producing region to be the west, responsible for 22 per cent of national production (720 MT), followed by the eastern region with 13 per cent (450 MT).
According to the survey, the low production can be attributed to a reduction in area under cultivation, but more importantly to a drop in opium yield per hectare.
In terms of eradication, efforts across the country led by the various provincial governments increased a collective 40 per cent, compared to last year, or from around 2,700 ha to 3,760 ha.
Photo: IRIN/Manoocher Deghati
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