Pubdate: Sun, 3 Aug 2008
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2008 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Mark Collings
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Afghanistan
Bookmark: http://drugnews.org/topic/poppy (Poppy)

BRITON'S BID TO STOP AFGHAN POPPY TRADE

Ex-Drug Dealer James Brett Has Beaten His Own Demons. He Tells Mark 
Collings He Now Hopes to Take on the Opium Growers - With Pomegranates

'Pomegranates are the answer to all this,' said James Brett, as we 
drove past the colourless, mud-brick villages and makeshift 
graveyards that litter the parched landscape of Nangarhar province. 
We were on our way to Markoh, a small village 40 minutes' drive 
inside the Afghan border with Pakistan. Brett first visited Markoh in 
April 2007. On his way to a seminar in Kabul, he had asked the driver 
to stop the car so that he could speak to a reed-thin figure 
extracting opium from the poppies.

'My translator told me not to do it. He said "you'll get shot", but I 
just felt like the first step had to be made that day.' That 'first 
step' was walking into the field to try to persuade the farmer to 
stop growing poppies and start growing pomegranates instead.

After the initial shock of seeing the large red-headed man striding 
through the field, the farmer agreed to stop cultivating poppies if 
Brett guaranteed to subsidise both him and his family until the 
pomegranate trees were grown and ready to harvest - a period of three 
to five years. Having launched his pomegranate juice on to the UK 
market four years previously, Brett was keen to find good fruit and 
plough the profits into increasing production. His argument to the 
farmer that the crop would return two-and-a-half times what he got 
for the poppy harvest proved a compelling one.

Nangarhar - with a population of nearly two million people - is one 
of the more stable provinces in Afghanistan. The tribal chiefs of 
Helmand province, the biggest producer of opium in the country, may 
be more difficult to convince. According to a United Nations survey, 
Afghanistan cultivated 193,000 hectares of opium in 2007 and now 
supplies 93 per cent of the world's opiates. The illegal trade is 
worth around UKP 1.3bn a year to Afghanistan - one-third of the 
country's gross domestic product.

One year on, Brett was preparing to address a 'loyal jirga' (grand 
assembly) of tribal chiefs from the 22 districts of Nangarhar 
province to try to persuade them to follow the example of that first farmer.

As we reached Markoh, the car slowed in front of a dozen or so Afghan 
police armed with AK-47s. The police ushered us into a clearing at 
the end of a dirt road where more than 400 tribal chiefs and elders 
were sat cross-legged in an orchard under two brightly coloured 
marquees. No one from the outside world - English or otherwise - had 
spoken to a gathering of these people before. All eyes were on Brett 
as he walked to the podium to speak, wearing a traditional Pathan hat 
and a long white jacket embroidered with red pomegranates.

He promised that he would help to raise money for the project and 
find markets for the fruit if they pledged to stop growing poppies. 
After several hours of deliberation, the elders made a historic 
decision, agreeing to cease poppy cultivation in the province from 
2009. Nangarhar would be poppy-free for the first time in 100 years.

Later that day Brett led a crowd back to the same field he had walked 
into a year earlier. The poppies had gone. The farmer was now 
standing under a sign that read 'POM354 - this site has been acquired 
as an initiative of alternative livelihood'. Brett shook hands with 
the farmer and planted the first pomegranate tree in the dry earth.

The tree-planting ceremony was only the latest chapter in Brett's 
extraordinary life. Born in Swindon in 1970, into a religious, 
working class family, from the age of 10 he was sexually abused by 
his grandfather, the head of a local church. When, at the age of 15, 
James finally plucked up the courage to tell his mother about the 
abuse, she committed suicide. Burdened with guilt, James turned to 
drink, drugs and petty crime, shoplifting and selling cannabis. But 
in 1997 he began to turn his life around. After marrying and having 
two daughters, he started looking into more legitimate ways to make a living.

On a trip to Pakistan in 1999 Brett had his first taste of fresh 
pomegranate juice at a street market stall. 'It was very odd. As soon 
as I drank it I thought, "Tesco's, Sainsbury's, Asda..." I knew I 
could turn it into something big in the UK.'

In 2003 he launched Pomegreat juice, which soon caught the attention 
of the major supermarkets. Last year it sold 2m litres a month and 
the company had a turnover of UKP 33m. Having lost friends to heroin, 
there is a missionary zealotary about Brett's campaign. 'POM354 isn't 
about personal gain; it's about personal growth,' he said. 'I'm in it 
to help solve a problem that I care about.'

Last week Babrak Shinwari, member of parliament for Nangarhar, 
arrived in the UK to discuss the future of the POM354 initiative. 
Having proved that pomegranates can be a viable economic alternative 
for farmers in Nangarhar, Brett intends to duplicate the model 
throughout the country. Shinwari, who will run for the presidency of 
Afghanistan later this year, will stay with Brett at his remote 
farmhouse in Scotland to talk about how James can deliver on his 
promise at the jirga.

Since Brett planted the first tree, support for the project has 
gathered pace. Several food and drink companies have promised to help 
- - they will carry the POM354 logo on their products and donate a 
percentage of each product to the cause. Britain's largest drug 
charity, Addaction, is also behind the campaign.

Shinwari has worked closely with President Hamed Karzai since the 
first democratic elections in 2004 and has been a key player in 
helping to build trust in the country's fragile government among 
tribal factions. He sees the replacement of the poppy with a viable 
alternative crop as a high priority and believes that for security to 
improve it is essential for the economy to prosper.

'There is a will in Afghanistan to cultivate alternative livelihoods 
and rebuild. POM354 is potentially the best alternative livelihood 
initiative to happen to Afghanistan. Brett is the first person to 
come from the international community who talked to the people for 
the benefit of the people,' said Shinwari.

According to UN and Afghan government figures, a typical poppy farmer 
can expect to make around $2,000 per acre. At a conservative 
estimate, Brett says he has worked out that pomegranates could 
produce $5,000 per acre.

POM354 aims to help raise the money to subsidise the farmers while 
they wait for their first pomegranate harvest. Using the original 
farm in Markoh as a template, it will cost UKP 24,000 to subsidise 
the 16 families who live on the farm for the three years it will take 
for the trees to mature.

The scheme will also help to establish an export market for the 
region by signing up businesses. Funds will also be used to establish 
offices and factories to provide education and support for the 
farmers who are changing their crops.

It's a task that would daunt most people, but Brett has already 
achieved more than anyone dreamed possible through his unorthodox 
methods and bloody-mindedness. 'It's a big job, but if the 
international community get behind us it will happen - and who 
wouldn't want to get rid of the heroin problem?' he said. 'It's a 
great opportunity for us all.' 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake