Afghan opium producers hit hard by drought in 2018
Afghan opium producers were hit hard by the worst drought in living memory this year and excessive supply,
with output and prices falling sharply as the area under poppy cultivation shrank, an annual survey said Monday.
In sharp contrast to a bumper 2017, the value of opium — a key source of funding for the Taliban — as it left poppy-growing farms fell 56 percent to $604 million, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.
Potential opium production from this year’s harvest dropped 29 percent to 6,400 tons — partially reversing last year’s 87 percent increase — as cultivation shrank by 20 percent and yields fell.
JIJI PRESS