Value Afghan Opium Yield Rose 133 Percent from 2010
January 14th, 2012Via: AFP:
Production of opium and the illicit crop’s value soared in Afghanistan last year, the United Nations said in a report released Thursday.
According to the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime, farmer income derived from Afghanistan’s opium crop in 2011 was $1.4 billion (1.09 billion euros), representing nine percent of GDP.
“Opium is therefore a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides considerable funding to the insurgency and fuels corruption,” Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UN office, said in a statement.
Afghanistan grows about 90 percent of the world’s opium. The UN said poppy-crop cultivation covered more than 131,000 hectares in 2011, up seven per cent from the previous year.
The overall opium crop increased by 61 per cent, from 3,600 metric tons in 2010 to 5,800 metric tons in 2011.
The value of the opium yield rose 133 percent from 2010, when plant diseases killed much of the Afghan crop.
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan just over a decade ago, they eliminated opium outright. It was a difficult undertaking for them. In fact, the UN chastised them for moving too quickly and disrupting the fragile economics of the region. They ignored these concerns because they knew what God opium served.
When the US/UN forces regained control of Afghanistan a couple years later, opium was once again instituted as the most lucrative agricultural export.
POSIWID. The Purpose Of a System Is What It Does.
what might the street value be? how much would the CIA make?
The Opium Wars in Asia never really ended.
@RBNZ:
they reckon 1 billion euros for the farmers for the raw opium. the street value of the heroin would be 100 times that, surely? probably a lot more.