Off the wire
• China calls for dialogue on Iraq-Turkey tension  • Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 0.52 pct  • Industry body downgrades UK economic prospects on weak manufacturing figures, poor trade performance  • China's cabinet pushes for registration-based stock listing reforms  • DPRK troupes arrive in China for performance  • "Sharing economy" selected Australia's word of the year  • Roundup: more needs to be done to protect dignity, safety of migrants: IFRC, ICRC leaders  • Lebanese army kills 9 al-Nusra Front militants  • Gov't funds help 410 mln Chinese students in five years  • 3rd LD Writethru: Strong earthquake hits E. Indonesia, no tsunami alert, casualties  
You are here: 　 Home

Opium production decreases in Afghanistan: official

Xinhua, December 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The production of illicit opium has decreased this year in militancy-hit Afghanistan, authorities said on Wednesday.

"The production of opium poppy declined some 48 percent this year in compare with last year," Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics Salamat Azimi told reporters at a joint press briefing here.

The reduction was mainly due to the increased eradication of poppy fields across the country and government's efforts to provide alternative livelihoods.

The eradication of the poppy fields has increased 29 percent in 2015.

"The opium poppy cultivation also decreased by 19 percent from an estimate of 224,000 hectares in 2014 to 183,000 hectares in 2015," the minister added.

The officials at the briefing also announced the publication of "Afghanistan Drug Report 2015."

"Undoubtedly 2015 has been a year of major achievement for MCN (Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics) that highlighted in the report including the reduction on cultivation and production, the national drug action plan and national mobilization against narcotics " said Andrey Avetisyan, UNODC regional representative for Afghanistan and neighboring countries, at the same briefing.

Some 1.9 million to 2.4 million adult drug addicts have been living in the militancy-hit country.

"Estimates show between 1.9 million to 2.4 million adult drug users which are equivalent to 12.6 percent of the adult population - more than double the global drug use rate of 5.2 percent. There are only 123 treatment centers in the country which is sufficient for treating 10.7 percent of the opium and heroin users," according to the released report.

Vast majority of world's opium poppy, the raw element for making heroin, has been cultivated in militancy-hit Afghanistan, particularly in western and southern parts of the country, where the government security forces have little presence. Enditem