KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO, reports that Afghan farmers are losing approximately $1.3 billion annually, or 8% of Afghanistan’s GDP in 2023, due to the ban on opium cultivation.
In a report released on Thursday, September 12, the Crisis Group cited UN estimates, stating that the ban has impacted the livelihoods of approximately seven million people in Afghanistan.
The report highlighted the Taliban’s failure to provide alternative livelihoods for farmers affected by the ban, noting that many have shifted to wheat and cotton cultivation but are struggling with significantly reduced income.
According to the report, the Taliban ban has had a particularly severe impact on women, who face limited employment opportunities under Taliban rule that severely restrict their ability to work.
The report also highlighted that while the Taliban’s ban has drastically reduced cultivation, Afghan-produced drugs are still reaching the global market as dealers continue to sell stockpiles and some farmers resist the ban.
“The Taliban’s enforcement impacts the livelihoods of millions of people, particularly poor laborers and rural women. Wealthy traders, meanwhile, are profiting from high prices by selling existing stocks.”
The Crisis Group recommends that donors support a transition to licit and equitable economic growth to help alleviate the acute poverty crisis currently facing the country.
“In the first instance, support could focus on rural development, agricultural support, water conservation, and investments in agro-processing,” part of the report reads.
“But the reality is that a drug-free agricultural sector will not provide enough jobs, so the country needs a development plan focusing more broadly on non-farm employment, including for women.”
Afghanistan, previously the world’s largest opium producer, supplied over 80% of the global market and was a major source of heroin in Europe and Asia. The UN estimated that Afghan opiates generated between $1.8 and $2.7 billion in 2021, accounting for 6% to 11% of the country’s GDP.
In April 2022, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, issued a decree prohibiting the production, usage, transportation, and trade of all types of drugs, including opium poppy, throughout Afghanistan.
Following the ban, the UN reported a significant reduction in opium poppy cultivation, which had been a vital source of income for many impoverished Afghan farmers, especially in the southern regions of the country.
However, a recent investigative report by KabulNow revealed that despite the ban, farmers in provinces such as Helmand and Badakhshan have resumed cultivating poppy as before, harvesting up to four times a year.
The report also found that drug prices have skyrocketed since the ban, with the price of opium rising from $70/kg before the ban to $1,200/kg now.
Similarly, the price of heroin increased from $340/kg to $6,120/kg, methamphetamine from $120/kg to $510/kg, and hashish from $34/kg to $120/kg.
The Taliban, which funded its insurgency through drug cultivation and trade for decades, now faces significant challenges in enforcing its leader’s decree and combating the ongoing drug cultivation and trade.
