Pubdate: Mon, 22 Apr 2002
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2002 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83

HELPING THE DRUG FARMERS

Afghanistan and Colombia, half a world apart and different in culture 
and politics, have a common dilemma: how to wean poor farmers off the 
narcotics crops that feed the habits of addicts, mainly in Europe and 
the US.

Farmers in both war-torn nations have recently become the focus of 
renewed effort by European nations and the US to curb the flow of 
Afghan heroin and Colombian cocaine. But these drug-consuming 
countries need to do more.

Under pressure from the West, the interim Afghan government early 
this year banned the cultivation of opium poppies, from which heroin 
is derived. That was after Afghan farmers, freed of the Taliban and 
its ban on the poppy crop, had already planted.

Afghan authorities now have to eradicate thousands of acres of 
poppies ready to yield the opium paste that pays farmers many times 
what the government is offering them in compensation. Moreover, the 
compensation often isn't right at hand, as promised. And farmers are 
hard put to come up with an alternative to poppies that will support 
their families.

President Bush's plan to uplift the Afghan economy, if funded by 
Congress, will give farmers hope of economic alternatives to growing 
poppies, as well as keep Afghanistan from again being a home to 
terrorists.

The Afghans' plight would sound familiar to farmers in the 
coca-growing regions of Colombia. There, too, the government, along 
with billions from Europe and the US, has tried to give growers an 
incentive to change crops. But alternative crops like yuca or rice 
sell for much less and are harder to get to market than coca, whose 
buyers come right to the farmers' doors to buy and collect the 
harvest. Thousands of acres of coca have been sprayed with 
herbicides, but most get replanted.

Moreover, both leftist rebels and right-wing militias profit from the 
coca trade and pressure farmers to keep producing the drug. In 
Afghanistan, too, powerful warlords want the drug cultivation to 
continue.

Clearly, the forces keeping farmers in the narcotics business have to 
be countered by strong incentives to quit. Directing farmers to new 
livelihoods is as complex as reducing the demand for drugs. 
Afghanistan and Colombia still need help in finding the best 
alternative crops, improving their transportation systems, and 
putting an end to the conflicts that drive farmers to grow illegal 
crops just for survival.
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