AFGHAN OPIUM POPPY YIELD DOWN FOR FIRST TIME IN 4 YEARS

One In Five Farmers Abandons Lucrative Illegal Activity For Legal
Crops, UN Report Says

UNITED NATIONS - Cultivation of opium poppies decreased in
Afghanistan this year for the first time since 2001, a success that
saw one in every five farmers abandon the drug-producing plant for
legal crops, a United Nations report said yesterday.

The decision by 50,000 farmers to give up the highly lucrative poppy
was undercut by the 2005 crop being one of the best in years. As a
result, production declined just 2.5 per cent, with Afghanistan still
accounting for 87 per cent of the world's supply, the UN Office for
Drugs and Crime said.

Still, even that shift suggested Afghanistan's drug-eradication
program, begun in 2004, is having some effect on poppy production and
legal sectors of the economy are expanding, the report said.

"It may seem that in a country where reality is so stark,
opportunities for the poor so limited, and consequences so dire, that
there is not a great deal we can do to stop people from engaging in
such a lucrative, albeit illegal, activity," it said. "That, however,
is not what this year's survey results reveal."

The report said Afghan farmers devoted 256,880 acres to poppies this
year, down from 323,500 acres in 2004. But because of good weather
and low disease, average yield rose 22 per cent, meaning 4,100 metric
tons of opium were produced. That was barely down from last year's
4,200. The report also found 309,000 Afghan households were involved
in opium cultivation, down from 356,000 in 2004.

In figures released separately yesterday, the U.S. government
reported a similar trend. It estimated Afghan poppy cultivation
dropped by nearly half from last year and said total opium production
fell only 10 per cent, to about 4,500 metric tons.

The U.S. report estimated Afghans grew 265,278 acres of poppies this
year, down from 510,549 acres in 2004.