Afghan farmers lose income of more than $1 billion after the Taliban banned poppy cultivation

Afghan farmers have lost income of more than $1 billion from opium sales after Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation, according to a report from U.N. drugs agency published Sunday.

Afghanistan was world’s biggest opium producer and a major source for heroin in Europe and Asia when Taliban seized power in August 2021.

y pledged to wipe out country’s drug cultivation industry and imposed a formal ban in April 2022, dealing a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of farmers and day laborers who relied on proceeds from crop to survive. Opium cultivation crashed by 95% after ban, report from U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.

Until 2023, value of Afghanistan’s opiate exports frequently outstripped value of its legal exports. U.N. officials said strong contraction of opium economy is expected to have far-reaching consequences for country as opiate exports before ban accounted for between 9-14% of national GDP.

Afghans need urgent humanitarian assistance to meet ir most immediate needs, absorb shock of lost income and save lives, said UNODC executive director, Gha Waly.

“Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghans with opportunities away from opium,” she said.

Afghans are dealing with drought, severe economic hardship and continued consequences of deces of war and natural disasters.

downturn, along with halt of international financing that propped up economy of former Western-backed government, is driving people into poverty, hunger, and diction.

A September report from UNODC said that Afghanistan is world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, with seizures of syntic drug increasing as poppy cultivation shrinks.

Lower incomes along opiate supply chain could stimulate or illegal activities like trafficking of arms, people or syntic drugs, most recent UNODC report said.