MOSCOW, November 13 (RIA Novosti) – Cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan has reached a record high this year as farmers seek to take advantage of increased prices to insure against growing instability as international troops withdraw next year, the UN said in a report published Wednesday.
UN Office on Drugs and Crime executive director Yury Fedotov called the situation a threat to stability and said the fight against the proliferation of drugs needed to be made a top priority.
"As we approach 2014 and the withdrawal of international forces from the country, the results of the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2013 should be taken for what they are – a warning, and an urgent call to action," Fedotov said.
The report, which was co-authored by the UNODC and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter Narcotics, noted that the area under cultivation for opium poppy has risen by one-third this year to 209,000 hectares.
The UNODC estimates opium production in 2013 reached 5,500 tons, an almost 50 percent increase on the year before.
Opium prices currently stand at around $145 per kilogram. While that is lower than in 2012, it is substantially higher than prices were between 2006 and 2008.
Afghanistan is the world’s leading drug producer, accounting for over 80 percent of all opiates on the global market.
According to Russia’s federal drug control service, Afghanistan annually produces up to 150 billion doses of heroin and around 30 billion doses of hashish.
Anti-narcotics authorities in Russia estimate there may be up to 1.5 million heroin users in the country.
Russia remains highly concerned about the persisting threat of terrorism and drug trafficking from Afghanistan, particularly after foreign combat troops leave next year.
The drug business has been a major source of income for Taliban warlords, bringing them hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
