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The cultivation area increased by 7 percent and production increased by 17 percent this year.
According to a report presented Wednesday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the opium harvest in Afghanistan reached record levels in 2014.
“The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated at 224,000 hectares in 2014, a 7 percent increase from the previous year,” says the report. “Potencial opium production was estimated at 6,400 tons in 2014, an increase of 17 percent from its 2013 lever (5,500 tons).”
The former highest records of cultivation and production was recorded in 2013, when production increased to 5,500 tons and the cultivation increased by 36 percent.
The southern provinces of Afghanistan, which represent 69 percent of the total national production, increased their opium yield by 27 percent. The southern province of Hilmand remains the country’s major cultivating zone, despite the efforts of the British forces to eradicate crops.
“Total eradication of opium poppy decreased by 63 percent in 2014, to 2,692 hectares," informs the report.
UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov said, “The illicit opium economy and related criminality and corruption continue to undermine security, the rule of law, health and development in the region and beyond” and said the UN will face the problem and
Afghanistan is still the biggest producer of opium, supplying 90% of the heroin in the world.
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