International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, september 19, 2000

UN Falters On Afghan Opium Plan

By Chistopher S. Wrep

UNITED NATIONS, New York - The UN is winding down efforts to persuade farmers in Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of opium, to switch to alternative, legal crops amid frustration over declining support from western donors and indifference of the ruling taleban.
Ghorak, Khakrez and Maiwand, three districts of Kandahar Province where the United Nations set up pilot program promoting alternative crops, have recorded decreases in poppy coltivation of at least 50 percent, according to the latest annual survey of the UN International Control Program.
"This demonstrates that the alternative developement projects work very well," said the program's executive directro, Undersecretary General Pino Arlacchi. Similar programs in Bolivia and Peru, he said led to sharp declines in the cultivation of coca, the plant used to make cocaine.
But despite UN efforts to convince Afghan farmers to switch to wheat and other food crops in return of compensation, Mr Arlacchi said, "Afghanistan remain by far the largest opium suppliers of the world."
Now, with UN funding running out and opium still Afghanistan's top crop, the projectss will end this yeara, Mr Arlacchi said "given lack of financial and politica support".
Afghanistan's production of opium, the essential raw ingredient of heroin, was estimated at just over 3.600 tons in this year, a decline from the recordo of 5.100 tons in 1999.
But the drop was caused mainly by a drought in southern Afghanistan, not by any effort of the Taleban, the Islamic militia that controls most of the country, to make peasants grow something other that opim poppies. A previous decree that farmers reduce their areas under opim coltivatio by one-third has benn widely ignored by the farmers and the Taleban authorities.
Half of Afghanistan's opium is consumed as heroin in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, Mr Arlacchi said. The rest is smoggled to Europe, usually via Turkey and the Balkans.
Afghanistan planted nearly 81.000 hectares (203.000 acres) in pium poppies this year, a slight decline from last year, again apparently because of bad weather.
UN officials hoped that the drought might encourage farmers to revert to traditional crops. But the poor harvest may leave indebted farmers with non choice but to keep raissing opium. Afghan farmers can earn about $31 per Kilogram ($14 per pound) of opium, conssiderably more than they do from other crops.
Roughly 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of raw opium are used to prduce 1 kilogram of heroin. At the consuming end, the cost of a Kilogram of uncut heroin in Europe or the United States can exceed $88.000.
Opium poppies are grown in 22 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces, but six provinces in the south acccount fo 92 percent of the total opium producting area