The crop, used to make heroin and opium, had comprised a significant chunk of the country's GDP.
farmers have lost income of more than US$1 billion from opium sales after the Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation, according to a new report from the United Nations drugs agency.
They pledged to wipe out the 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 labourers who relied on proceeds from the crop to survive.Opium cultivation crashed by 95 per cent after the ban, the report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.
UN officials said the strong contraction of the opium economy is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the country as opiate exports before the ban accounted for between nine and 14 per cent of the national GDP. "Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghans with opportunities away from opium," she said.The downturn, along with the halt of international financing that propped up the economy of the former Western-backed government, is driving people into poverty, hunger, and addiction.
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