Marijuana Replaces Opium As the Top Crop in Afghanistan

Posted by Paddy , Brave New Films at 1:00 PM on November 5, 2007.

This post, written by Paddy, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

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KHWAJA GHOLAK, Afghanistan - Amid the multiplying frustrations of the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan, the northern province of Balkh has been hailed as a rare and glowing success.

"As a consequence," the United Nations report warned, "farmers who do not cultivate opium poppy may turn to cannabis cultivation."

(snip)

Last year Mr. Ayud's parcel was mostly opium poppies. But his crop was wiped out by government officials during a campaign led by the provincial governor, Atta Mohammad Noor, who jailed dozens of growers for disobeying him and personally waded into several poppy fields swinging a stick at the flower stems.

(snip)

This year he planted cannabis instead, with some cotton as a fallback in case the government followed through on its promises to eradicate the illicit crop. It was a return to a family tradition, he said. His father and grandfather grew cannabis here.

Mr. Ayud said he knew it was illegal to grow cannabis, but that it was the only crop that would produce enough profit to feed his family. "I don't have anything else to grow," he said. The difference in potential earnings is vast: cannabis can earn about twice the profits of a legal crop like cotton, local officials say.

Poor people need to live too. So, what is the government doing to try and encourage other forms of agriculture?

But Mr. Atta said he was still waiting for the development money that the central government and international community had promised Balkh in return for ridding itself of opium poppies. The money - he puts it at more than $5 million; officials in the central government say it is closer to $3 million - is earmarked for a range of projects including rural development programs to promote farming alternatives to poppies and cannabis.

So they do the only things they can to make a buck.

Tagged as: marijuana, drugs, afghanistan, opium, agriculture

Paddy is a regular contributor to Cliff Schecter.com.