Feature: Growing poppies a detested yet profitable business for farmers in southern Afghanistan

"I hate poppies and the drug trade but poverty and my dire need for money have forced me into this lucrative business and I can earn a relatively good income and support my family from farming the plant," a farmer in the southern Kandahar province, Sadiq Agha, 55, told Xinhua recently.

Walking on his land in the Maiwand district to chalk out his plan for next season in October to cultivate poppies, Agha maintained his poppy plantation was a "profitable business" and said that growing poppies and its business has become the backbone of the local economy of the landlords and their farmers in the troubled southern region.

"The price of one Sir (7 kg) of wheat nowadays in Kandahar is 170 afghanis (around 2.5 U.S. dollars) while one Maan (4 kg) of opium poppies costs 1,000 U.S. dollars," Agha said, quizzing "which one is better for a farmer to grow, wheat or poppies?

Despite the obvious financial imperative, the farmer expressed his hatred of growing poppies, producing drugs and selling them, stating, "to be frank, growing poppies and harvesting them and producing heroin is in fact tantamount to "supplying poison" to human beings, which is forbidden in Islam, but extreme poverty has forced me to do this just to support my family."

The conflict-hit Afghanistan reportedly produces around 90 percent of opium poppies, the raw material used in the manufacturing of heroin to the world. The largest poppy-producing regions are in Kandahar and in the neighboring Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces where Taliban militants are active and security is fragile.

"We have no alternative crop to replace the poppy," another farmer in the Zharai district of Kandahar province, Assadullah, 32, told Xinhua.

Expressing his happiness over the poppy output he harvested this year, Assadullah exclaimed that the government "didn't destroy our poppy farms this year and I am hopeful the government do the same in future."

However, Mohammad Hanif Daneshyar, spokesman for the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics, rebuffed the notion and pointed out that the government is committed to eradicating poppy plantations but unfortunately, "Continued insurgency and shortage of fiscal means have undermined the government's campaign against narcotics so far this year."

In poppy growing Afghanistan, which has long been facing multi-faceted challenges, commensurate to the volume of poppies being grown, the number of drug addicts is rising, with some 3.5 million Afghans, including women and children, being addicted to the drug.

"Around 3.5 million people in Afghanistan including some 800,000 women and roughly one million teenagers are using and smoking the drug," Daneshyar told Xinhua in a recent interview.

According to the official, there are 110 drug rehabilitation centers in the country and each center after providing medical treatment for 40 days to an addict discharges the addict after a period of detoxification.

Although there is no official statistic about the number of active drug addicts in Afghanistan, the number has been constantly rising in the poppy growing country, according to local figures.

Drug addicts are also prevalent elsewhere in Afghanistan and even in the capital city of Kabul, in each corner of the city, especially under the bridges of the Kabul river, scores of addicts can be seen inhaling or injecting the poison into their bodies.

According to Daneshyar, 183,000 hectares of land were harvested for poppies in Afghanistan in 2015 and more land obviously would be covered by poppies in 2016 as the poppy-free Balkh province also joined the poppy growing provinces this year.

Blaming the Taliban, ongoing security concerns and economic strife for encouraging farmers to cultivate poppies, the official said that the Taliban outfit earns more than 500 million U.S. dollars from the drug business annually, which funds their militancy in Afghanistan.

"Like terrorism, drugs are an international problem and threatens the health of whole world, therefore, overcoming the challenge requires support from the global community to Afghanistan in fighting the drug's source, cultivation, transportation, international distribution and sale," Daneshyar said.

According to Daneshyar, some 70 billion U.S. dollars goes to international drug syndicates from drugs produced in Afghanistan and only 1.56 billion U.S. dollars stays in Afghan pockets.

In spite of the government's tireless efforts to clamp down on poppy cultivation, both poppies and hashish plantations are prevalent in the country.

"No farmer would abandon growing poppies unless and until the government provides alternative crops, a market for their products and, above all, a stable security environment throughout the country," said Agha. Endit