Taliban continue to crack down on opium farming.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban regime has been cracking down on opium cultivation, according to their own assertions. This news was shared by the Ministry of the Interior, which falls under the Taliban's control. According to the report, around 148 hectares of cultivated land were destroyed in multiple districts of the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. Although significant, this move is unlikely to alter the overall area under cultivation in Afghanistan substantially. The United Nations reported that 10,900 hectares of land were under cultivation in Afghanistan in 2023.
As per local journalists, residents expressed their dissent through protests, as they have done many times before. Only recently, violent confrontations broke out between security personnel and locals in at least one district of Badakhshan. This followed the authorities' decision to eradicate poppy fields in the area.
The United Nations noted in November 2022 that the production of opium had plummeted by a whopping 95% ever since the Taliban enforced a ban on it. In a nation riddled with conflict and economic hardships, opium farming is highly profitable and sustains livelihoods of many farmers.
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Despite the Taliban's efforts to reduce opium cultivation, nearly half of the destroyed land was quickly cultivated again due to the high profitability and reliance on opium farming in affected areas. The Taliban's strict crackdown on opium cultivation has led some farmers to shift their focus towards cultivating poppy substitutes, such as marijuana, to sustain their livelihoods.
Source: www.ntv.de
