AFGHANISTAN: The government is set to launch a major campaign aimed at eradicating poppy cultivation

Record ID: 290472

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN: The government is set to launch a major campaign aimed at eradicating poppy cultivation
  • Date: 8th April 2002
  • Summary: (U3) OUTSIDE JALALABAD CITY, NANGARHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT - APRIL 5, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV/SV/CU OF POPPY FIELDS; FARMERS WORKING ON POPPY FIELDS; POPPY FARMER ABDUL GHARFOOR WORKING ON THE FIELD (6 SHOTS) MCU (Pashto) POPPY FARMER ABDUL GHARFOOR SAYING "If they give us three thousand U.S. dollars or three thousand five hundred U.S. dollars that would be sufficie
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: OUTSIDE JALALABAD CITY, NANGARHAR PROVINCE AND KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVABOLY6YF1D1U0VPD3P35398896
  • Story Text: In Afghanistan, the government is set to launch a major campaign aimed at eradicating poppy cultivation.
    But thousands of poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan have vowed to continue with their illegal trade, saying they would rather die than accept what the government is offering them.
    All over eastern Afghanistan, poppy flowers are in bloom. In a few weeks, farmer working these fields will earn hundreds of dollars, enough to sustain them and their families for the year.
    But a government campaign which will involve paying out farmers to stop them from planting poppies is causing a lot of tension among poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan.
    The interim administration of Harmid Karzai has promised poppy farmers 250 U.S. dollars an acre for not growing the plant from which heroin is derived.
    Thirty-five-year-old Abdul Gharfoor says there was no way he could accept what the government is offering them.
    "If they give us 3,000 U.S. dollars or 3,500 U.S. dollars that would be sufficient. We cannot believe the announcement that the government has made to issue us 250 U.S. dollars. I am not ready to take that money and I think no one will be able to take that money because I have spent 500 U.S. dollars on the 20 square metres cultivating my poppy field," said Gharfoor.
    Afghanistan is one of the world's leading sources of the opium from which heroin is derived.
    Recently, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said the government campaign will be in full-swing soon in eastern Afghanistan, where Gharfoor grows his poppies.
    "In Nangarhar, this programme will start in two days' time if it goes according to the plan. Hopefully we will see opium eradicated something closer to 100 percent. Which is I think an ambitious project, but that's the determination of the people and there is also the support from the international communities needed which is once again we are grateful for the commitments in that regard," Abdullah said at a recent news conference in capital Kabul.
    But Gharfoor and most farmers here in Nangarhar province said they would they need the money to feed their families, and they would rather die than take what they say is the government's measly offer.
    "It's better for the government to send in weapons and kill us. To be killed is better than to stretch my hand for this 250 U.S. dollars," said Gharfoor.
    Here in the Jalalabad city market, opium is sold by kilos.
    At present, a kilo goes for about 600 U.S. dollars.
    Just like any commodity, opium are stacked up and sold to traders from neighbouring Pakistan. Those involved say they will only give it up if government offers them something better.
    "If they can find other jobs for us, in a factory perhaps, then there's no need for outside countries to force us to stop this. We can stop this on our own," said one trader.
    But statistics show the number of opium and heroin users in Afghanistan is high. Drug addicts can only seek help at the National Mental Hospital, where three wards are devoted to drug addicts. One man helping them is Dr. Nagibullah Bagzid, the hospital's psychiatrist.
    Bagzid says patients travel from all over the country seeking help for their addiction.
    But Bagzid says for as long as there is supply, people will continue turning to opium. A recent report released by the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) said Afghanistan's cultivation of opium poppies has soared since the final collapse of the Taliban in December, and this year's over-all harvest could be 15 times higher than in 2001, with up to 1,900 to 2,700 tonnes of opium produced.
    Compounding the problem is the lack of basic medicine in remote areas where people easily turn to opium to ease physical pain.
    "It's very easy to become a catastrophe inside Afghanistan, because opium is very easy, and reasonable for them. Very reasonable. And also a woman with insomnia uses that, if she suffers from headache she uses that because the addiction of that, it's very favourable for them ... and also there isn't any medical facilities, any doctors, any hospital, enough drugs. It's a very hard problem for them," said Bagzid who treats about 30 patients a month - a small number in comparison to the actual number of users.
    The recent UNDCP report also revealed a growing number of Afghan women addicted to opium.
    Sadiqa is one of them. More than 60 years old, Sadiqa has been dependent on opium since her husband died of cancer 17 years ago.
    She laces her cheelam, a traditional Afghan tobacco, with opium. She does this about 8 times a day, most of the time in the presence of her six grandchildren.
    Supply is never a problem because her relatives from the eastern Logar province work in vast poppy fields.
    She says this is the only way she can ease the aches and pains caused by a combination of her age and dependence on opium, and the emotional pain and misery caused by poverty.
    When she gets the extra cash from her daughter, who is the family's sole breadwinner, Sadiqa turns to heroin.
    "Whenever I become upset I smoke this. It helps the tension. If I stay at home, I smoke cheelam. When I go outside, I smoke cigarette. I've got a heart problem and if I don't smoke this, my throat gets choked," said Sadiqa.
    UNDCP says official farm-gate prices for opium had increased 10-fold since 2001. The main trafficking route out of Afghanistan is still via Iran and the Balkans to Europe.
    Officials say it was clear that there were large stockpiles of opium in Afghanistan as the massive fall in production last year did not result in a significant squeeze in supply.
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