Field of Dreams
Can Afghanistan, awash in opium poppies, curtail its drug trade and the heroin tide headed this way?
Take the Kandiba farmers. At a series of meetings with provincial leaders last winter, the farmers say they agreed to stop planting poppies in exchange for promises of international aid. Hajik Mohammed, 50, an elder with a deeply lined face and white curlicue beard, says he earned $4,662 last year from opium poppies on his 1-acre plot. This year's crop of wheat from donated seeds, he says, will bring just $266 total. It's not enough, he says darkly, to support his 16-member family. "If the government and the world don't keep our promise to us, we must grow opium again."
Tragically, traditional poppy-growing villages are as dependent on the plant as the addicts who crave the heroin it provides. The poppy's powerful appeal comes from the fact that nothing grows as easily or makes as much money. So the need, says Michael Kleinman of nonprofit Care International, is to create "an economy that's not based on opium." Hence the newest buzzword: alternative livelihoods. Some international organizations have ensured that in some villages, farmers start turning roses into rose oil, women learn to sew, and community credit bureaus launch lending programs--all in an effort to show Afghans the possibilities of life without the poppy.
The Kandiba farmers have their doubts about getting by without the poppy. Randhir Singh of nonprofit Relief International in Jalalabad says that's to be expected. "We need to give them a grace period," he says. "It's not a one-night job."
Some 100 miles away, in the gentle sunlight of a late afternoon, the farmers of Saheb Zudagan are busy ripping up their poppies. They eagerly show a visitor the pale fronds of three-month-old plants, breaking them in half to let the pungent, milky opium sap seep down the stems. Just a few miles off the craggy mountain road from Kabul to Jalalabad, the riverside village is a likely target for government eradicators. Working quickly, the farmers can still plant crops like onions and tomatoes. Conceding that the crops will earn far less than opium--while complaining that they've still received no help from the government--the farmers promise they won't plant poppies again. Basarmal, a laughing-eyed 19-year-old clutching a freshly pulled poppy plant, explains their survival strategy: "Allah," he says, "will provide."
"Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a narcotics state'"
--State Department March 2005
2003 2004
People cultivating opium 1.7 mil. 2.3 mil.
Average price of fresh opium $283/kg $92/kg
Est. gross profits of Afghan
traffickers $1.3 bil. $2.2 bil.
Estimated opium poppy cultivation (in acres)
'02 75,984
'03 150,734
'04 510,766
Source: State Department
Gross income per acre
2003 2004
Opium $4,140 $1,862
Wheat $190 $158
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Graphic by Rob Cady-- USN&WR
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