Pubdate: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 Source: Gulf News (UAE) Copyright: 2002, Al Nisr Publishing, LLC Contact: http://www.gulf-news.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1604 GULF NEWS SAYS: PROHIBITING THE POPPY A key programme in Afghanistan has failed. Experts from the United Nations have all but written off the four-month effort to eradicate the opium poppy crop in the country. The war-ravaged country has turned into the world's biggest producer of the raw material for heroin and Europe bears the brunt of such production. Tens of thousands of hectares of land that Afghans desperately need to produce food have been planted with poppy instead. This year's produce of the poppy fields is expected to bring in $1 billion at the farm level alone. With such income available for farmers and others across Afghanistan, it is little wonder that weak government efforts at eliminating poppy production have failed miserably. A cash incentive to cultivate wheat instead has, for most part, not been distributed. Discouraged farmers willing to accept government controls over produce have been driven back into trade. If the developed world expects to eliminate poppy planting and harvesting in Afghanistan, it has to be ready to actively participate in the effort. Merely depending on the fledgling government in Kabul to clean up what has become a traditional farming practice is foolish and futile. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake