AFGHANISTAN: Interview with UN drug agency on opium proliferation

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 30 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by more than 60 percent and is set to reach an unprecedented 131,000 hectares in 2005, according to a new survey carried out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The agency's annual survey found that poppy cultivation has spread to all 32 provinces of the country.

In an interview, Doris Buddenberg, the head of UNODC in Afghanistan, told IRIN that a lack of alternative livelihoods in rural areas was continuing to drive the cultivation of poppy and production of opium.


QUESTION: How significant is your survey for counter-narcotics efforts?

ANSWER: The UNODC annual survey provides an evidence base for opium cultivation in Afghanistan. It has established data over the last decade and allows [us] to assess how poppy cultivation has developed in Afghanistan; to which areas it has shifted and the income derived from cultivation from a historical perspective.

UNODC has been conducting this survey for over a decade and we have full confidence in the data that have been collected. Currently, a mix of methods is used to arrive at these estimates, satellite image analysis on the one hand, conducted in Vienna and a ground survey. UNODC employs up to 150 surveyors who systematically work through the provinces, talk to the farmers and traders, measure fields and assess the yield.

The survey thus provides the evidence base for any future counter-narcotics planning.

Q: What were some of the very bold points of the survey that you think are alarming or need to be taken seriously?

A: An increase in hectarage from 80,000 ha in 2003 to 131,000 ha in 2004. This represents an increase of 64 percent. Production has increased only by 17 percent, from 3,600 mt in 2003 to 4,200 mt in 2004. This lower yield increase is due to climatic circumstances, drought for example, as well as an increase in plant diseases and a lack of agricultural techniques regarding opium poppy cultivation in areas where it has just started.

Opium poppy cultivation is now present in all provinces of Afghanistan. It is a record yield and only one year under the Taliban in 1999 was higher. Compared to 2003, a redistribution of income from opium poppy is taking place. In 2003, out of a total value of $2.3 billion, the farm-gate value was $1 billion. In 2004, out of a total of $2.8 billion, the traders/traffickers retain $2.2 billion and the farmers receive $0.6 billion.

Q: Government officials have said a lack of coordination was the main reason for an increase in opium poppy cultivation, what do you think was the obstacle to counter-narcotics efforts this year?

A: Several reasons: there is a correlation between poverty at the farmers’ level and poppy cultivation. Many farmers still grow poppy for the urgently needed cash income.

At the same time many rural development initiatives are still in the planning or pilot phase. They have not yet reached many provinces and there has been a delay in the rural development process. The lack of alternatives through rural development was certainly a factor.

However, next year many donor countries are preparing to place substantial amounts of funds into rural development and the situation will systematically improve as more provinces will be reached.

Q: In the short term, opium is seen as a blessing for the farmers and eradication is destroying their survival mechanisms. Is there a tension there?

A: The number of families involved in opium poppy cultivation rose by 35 percent and was estimated at 356,000 families in 2004. Opium cultivation is still more profitable than legitimate crops. There is obviously a tension if eradication is conducted alone without consideration of alternative livelihoods, both in terms of agriculture and improvement of infrastructures and access to market.

Q: Recently, the US Congress announced a $780 million contribution to Afghan anti-narcotics efforts, how significant is this and other international contributions in battling to reduce next year's poppy crop?

A: Yes, the US and UK have allocated major contributions. Whether all of it will go to rural development I don’t know, but substantive amounts of these funds will be dedicated to rural development.

There are also other donors, for example the European Union, which is coming forward to work in rural development. That is the only way forward.

Q: Cultivation has already started. How do you foresee next year’s harvest output?

A: It is very difficult to predict what the farmers plan. There are many rumours about possible eradication campaigns and this factor might influence farmers’ decisions as well. Many farmers might consider this before they plant poppy. On the other hand, in areas where rumours of eradication are strong, prices for opium have already gone very high, a typical effect of eradication. Thus, overall, it is difficult to predict what will happen.

Q: Do you think farmers will see major alternative livelihoods next year?

A: Alternative livelihoods do take a certain amount of time since large rural development measures have to be comprehensive and include infrastructure, e.g. road construction, support to irrigation system, building health clinics, providing training, support to schools as well as support to agriculture, livestock and off-farm income generation.

I should also mention that access to credit is also very important. Farmers in subsistence economies are notoriously cash-strapped. Poppy, which is always used as a collateral for credit, needs to be replaced by access to credit to farmers through different channels. Farmers need to become less dependent on the opium traders in the local markets.

In 2005, we will see a major change and the start-up of these large rural development measures.

Q: There are reports that key government figures are involved in the poppy trade in Afghanistan, do you think counter-narcotics campaigns can succeed if this is the case?

A: It is indeed alleged that government officials are involved in the drug trade. However, it is not the role of UNODC to collect evidence in individual cases. It is, however, the role of UNODC to strengthen the capacity of the criminal justice system to enable relevant government agencies to deal with the issue. Corruption is a recognised problem in government.

That corruption could hamper the effective implementation of a drug-control strategy is obvious. The need therefore exists to provide expertise to the government to establish anti-corruption services in government and particularly in the narcotics sector.

Q: The government says there will be major eradication next year; do you think without an alternative, eradication can be of any effect?

A: UNODC is not involved in eradication, neither in its implementation nor in any advisory or consultative function.

Eradication usually does not bring about a sustainable reduction of poppy crop, it is a one-time short-term effort. Also eradication usually pushes the prices up. As we have seen from the Taliban period, the one-year ban on opium poppy cultivation increased prices enormously the following year and it became extremely attractive for farmers to cultivate poppy.

Q: Do you think this year’s increase in opium production will affect the image of Afghanistan in the international community, as Afghanistan still needs more foreign support?

A: If you ask whether the international community will say, first you sort out your drug problem and then we will provide funding or whether the international community will say the drug problem is also linked to that fact that there is a development challenge in Afghanistan, then the indication is that the international community is taking the latter option. It needs a long-term sustained effort, the opium poppy problem cannot be dealt with in a year or two.

Q: The report suggests Afghanistan could turn into a narco-state, can you comment on this?

A: Now that between 30 and 50 percent of GDP is coming from drugs, there is no question that the economy is heavily influenced by narcotics.

However, a narco-state or even narco-government is a very different issue. So far forces are very decentralised and there are many contradictory movements that cancel each other out.

Q: What is UNODC doing to counter the narcotics problem?

A: UNODC is carrying out a comprehensive approach on counter narcotics which encompasses both the survey of the cultivation and production, support capacity building in law enforcement and criminal justice to enable prosecution of drug-related offenders. UNODC implements demand reduction through treatment of drug addicts and prevention, as well as supports the coordination and mainstreaming of alternative livelihoods programmes.

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