UN finds decline in Afghanistan opium cultivation

Cultivation of opium poppies declined in Afghanistan last year for the first time since 2001, a success that saw one in every five farmers abandon the drug-producing plant for legal crops, a UN report said today.

The decision by some 50,000 farmers to abandon the highly lucrative poppy was undercut by the fact that the 2005 crop was one of the best in years. As a result, total production decreased by just 2.5%, with Afghanistan still accounting for 87% of the world’s supply, the UN office for Drugs and Crime said.