KABUL: Opium cultivation rose by 19 per cent in Afghanistan this year, the UN reported Wednesday, despite a Taliban government ban that almost eradicated the crop.

Currently, 12,800 hectares of poppies are cultivated in Afghanistan — where up to 80pc of the population depends on agriculture — a new survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows, the agency said in a statement.

The 19pc increase year-on-year remains far below the 232,000 hectares cultivated when Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banned the crop in April 2022, nearly a year after the Taliban returned to power, the UNODC added.

The centre of poppy cultivation has also shifted, the agency noted, and is now concentrated in northeastern provinces instead of in the Taliban strongholds of southern Afghanistan.

In May, clashes between farmers and brigades sent to destroy their poppy fields resulted in several deaths in northeastern Badakhshan.

Following the poppy ban, prices soared for the resin from which opium and heroin are made.

During the first half of 2024, prices stabilised around $730 per kilogram, (two pounds) according to the UNODC, compared to about $100 per kg before 2022.

For years Afghanistan was the world’s biggest supplier of opium and heroin.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2024