Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation down 95% following drug ban

Kabul: The opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has dropped by an estimated 95 per cent since the country's caretaker government imposed a drug ban in April 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said on Sunday.

According to the organisation's report, the opium cultivation of the once world's biggest opium producer fell from 233,000 hectares to just 10,800 hectares in 2023, leading to a 95-per cent drop in the supply of opium, from 6,200 tonne in 2022 to 333 tonne in 2023, Xinhua nedws agency reported.

The farmer's income from selling the opium harvest has resultantly decreased by more than $1 billion, according to the report.

Many farmers turned to cultivating wheat instead, with an overall increase of 160,000 hectare in cereal cultivation across the Farah, Helmand, Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces, the report noted.