Development programmes in Afghanistan

Development programmes in Afghanistan - longer version

In 2005 some 7,300 acres were cleared of opium poppy in the province of  Balkh in the Northeast of the country bordering Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The vigorous efforts by government to eradicate in conjunction with rising labour costs dissuadd farmers from replanting poppy in the following season. Investments in infrastructure and services including functioning markets were delivering a range of benefits. Most importantly, however, farmers found a new cash crop with equally attractive returns – cannabis.

Cannabis, which is processed into hashish and has been used recreationally and for medical purposes for millennia, is less expensive per weight than opium or heroin. But it yields twice the quantity of drug per acre and is cheaper and less labour intensive to grow. Consequently, cultivation has risen by an estimated 40% across the country with some 173,000 ha now under cultivation. Once popular prized by cannabis smokers around the world the ’milk of mazar’ may once again be available on global markets - consequence of the successful war on opium poppy.