OPIUM POPPY plantation in Afghanistan is at its peak. The United Nations estimates that the country is likely to produce nearly 9,000 tonnes of opium this year which nearly accounts for the entire world’s supply of the drug. Opium is in great demand for both legal and illegal purposes across the globe. This drug is distilled from the juice of the poppy plant and is refined into some of the most important medicines known to man. It is also converted into some of the most harmful substances in the world, which are used carelessly by man - such as morphine, codeine and heroin. Opium trade in Afghanistan has considerably increased. It is a multi-billion dollar industry stimulated by the Taliban and the corrupt members in the Afghanistan government. Officials of the United States, who have declared an Opium War against Afghanistan, claim victory, thanks to the provincial governors.

 

Poppy farming helps fund the Taliban insurgents but it is also of great significance to the general public, a fact that often goes unnoticed. Poppy plantation supports thousands of families in Afghanistan and is a major source of livelihood for them. People living in several provinces are so poor that they are able to meet their day-to-day requirements only because of poppy cultivation. The locals claim that they are not addicted to opium and have no contact with the people involved in the smuggling of the drug. They know about the crimes associated with the cultivation of opium but cannot survive without the drug because it helps them support their families. Opium gives them food and is capable of looking after their needs.

 

Several anti-drug teams and task forces have been appointed to eradicate the cultivation of opium in Afghanistan. People are being promised development projects like roads and electricity in order to stop growing poppy. Badakshan, Jurm and Uruzgan are among the top opium producing areas in Afghanistan.

 

Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan is a crude-looking place. It is home to about ten thousand people living on the eastern shore of the Tirinrud River. The men are bearded and wear traditional robes and tunics covering their heads with turbans while no women are in sight and the ones that appear wear burkas. Running down the valley slopes surrounding Tirin Kot are poppy fields that sizzle in spring, vibrant with the different shades of poppy flowers in pink, magenta, red and darker shades, indicating the ones with the maximum opium. According to several task-force agents, no other crop can be planted alongside poppy - like wheat or grain because it raises the overall cost of living and feeding the family as well as livestock. If these fields are destroyed, that leaves the farmers without anything to pay even their landlords. 

 

The farmers’ side of the story reveals other facts. They say that they’ve hardly seen any development. Promises are made year after year and are broken altogether. They say that their plight doesn’t seem to end. The small hydroelectric plant being built nearby has the capacity to light only one bulb per household in the region. The poppy elimination teams may have cleared the fields this year, but nothing will keep the farmers from planting poppies again. The farmers further argue, “We cannot do much with wheat and other grains, except for making bread. It won’t provide us with sufficient money to do anything else whereas selling opium would help us take care of several other needs as well.”

 

Opium has been Afghanistan’s cash crop for centuries and hence the people are resistant to the idea of stopping the production of opium in the area. Just 50 years ago opium trade was legal in Afghanistan and it is hard for people to understand the change being proposed suddenly. The name of Jurm’s neighbouring district of Khash, situated on the ancient Silk Road to China, has been derived from the Afghan word for opium poppy. Sharan-e-Khash is also famous for using opium as currency. The place is never short of opium and about 5 litres of engine oil, worth £ 5, can be bought for 100 gm of opium. Two bottles of Coca-Cola can be bought for 18 gm of opium. Even the children of the province use opium to buy goods. They apply a little bit of the drug to a leaf as payment and ask the shopkeeper for various goods like biscuits, chewing gums and chocolates. The entire economy of the town revolves around opium. People in the region are poverty-stricken to such an extent that they don’t have money to buy even basic household goods and hence use poppies to purchase what they need.

 

Another factor coming in the way of opium eradication in Afghanistan is that several places where opium is raised are located beyond the high mountains and forests which cannot be accessed by road and have no telephone facility. Thus, one cannot think of cent percent opium eradication. In provinces like Badakshan, only 10 tractors have been given to authorities to eradicate almost 50,000 acres of poppies. Most of the fields in the highlands cannot even be reached.

 

US officials have come up with the idea of extending rewards and recognition to all who actively participate in the eradication campaign against opium. But most of the people in Afghanistan feel that alternative crops will not serve the purpose and hence they cannot do without opium.