Alternative crops in afghanistan book

Cultivation, production, and consumption of illegal drugs have continued. The western war on afghan farmers the beckley foundation. Decades of ongoing conflict, political instability, drought and economic chaos have left afghanistan one of the worlds poorest and unstable nations. Convinced that this time they are doing the morally right thing, western governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars bulldozing poppy fields, building up counternarcotics squads, and financing alternative crops in afghanistan. The crc handbook of alternative cash crops describes 128 crop plants that can be grown as alternatives to cultivated crops, such as tobacco, and narcotic crops, such as opium poppy. The opium crop in afghanistan will hit a new high this year, the united nations has said, presenting a challenge to the country in tackling the trade that fuels the talibanled insurgency opium. Merging coverage of two increasingly popular and quickly growing food trends, organic production and use of alternative crops provides an overview of the basic principles of organic agriculture and highlights its multifunctionality with special emphasis on the conservation of rare crops. The link between illicit opium production and security in afghanistan. Afghan opium crop soars to new high, fueling taliban forces by reuters. The preparation of the book would not have been possible without the. The overarching aim of the book is to analyse why opium bans have been. Although the united states is bordered by two oceans, those oceans are not moats.

Therefore, opium could potentially be considered an alternative for those who find morphine prices to be too high. One afghan development expert says the country needs a synergy between a variety of alternative crops, infrastructural development, better governance, security and timeperhaps up to 20 years. In this falsecolor satellite image vegetation appears fluorescent green, urban areas range in. Afghanistan national development strategy ands was formulated in may 2008 in which was positioned as one of the important pillars for the promotion of economic development. Afghanistans opium crop will hit a new high this year, the united nations said on wednesday, presenting the new president with a challenge in tackling the trade fuelling the talibanled. The united states has focused its efforts on marketled approaches, promoting highvalue crops as an alternative to poppy cultivation pdf. Other, more radical suggestions include the licensing afghan opium, so that it may enter the legitimate medical supply chain and perhaps go to developing countries. While some farmers may prefer to grow legal cash crops, nothing is as financially lucrative as a field of poppy flowers. At the end of the holy month of ramadan last week, the taliban declared a threeday ceasefire. Afghan opium crop set for record high world news the. One of these possible alternative crops is the pomegranate, an ancient and prized fruit in afghanistan. Pdf genetically modified organisms gmos in pakistan.

With afghanistans limited irrigation, in which qanats still play a big role, transportation and other agricultural infrastructure, growing alternative crops is not only less profitable, but more difficult. The result was a gross failure to capitalize on security improvements, paid for by the lives and limbs of american troops, to build a sustainable economy for the farmers of southern afghanistan. For more than 3,000 years, kabul has occupied a strategic location along central and southern asian trade routes. Shows the cagd implementation of the alternate crop project in afghanistan, which helps farmers grow agricultural alternatives to the highly profitable opium. Merging coverage of two increasingly popular and quickly growing food trends, organic production and use of alternative crops provides an overview of the basic principles of organic agriculture and highlights its multifunctionality with special emphasis on. Organic production and use of alternative crops 1st. Opium poppy cultivation and production in afghanistan, 19902004. The variety of the countrys crops corresponds to its topography. The opium economy in afghanistan united nations office on drugs. Rudds opium campaign risks hiv plague, annabel stafford, age, 20080410 dr alex wodak, who has travelled to afghanistan as part of the world banks efforts to prevent an outbreak of hiv, said the australian prime ministers plan to eradicate opium poppy crops was a highrisk strategy that would push up the price of opium and lead many users to inject heroin. It is known for producing some of the finest fruits, especially apples, apricots, cherries, figs, grapes, melons, sweet mulberries, peaches, and pomegranates.

Kabul, afghanistan this ancient land is telling the world that it has a trendy, new replacement for its dreaded poppy crop. Building and using greenhouses is a fastgrowing industry in the country. Material is presented in alphabetical order by genus and species and includes information on ecology, cultivation, harvesting, economics, and biotic factors. Books in soils, plants, and the environment routledge. Theres been a very severe drought throughout afghanistan for six years. Irrigation, profits and alternative crops in afghanistan reliefweb. Afghanistan recently took a brief holiday from war. Chemical spraying may begin as early as this spring. In 2006, opium production in the province increased over 162 percent and now accounts for 42 percent of afghans total opium output. Afghanistans great purple hope bring on the pomegranate. Usaid has continuously refined its crop and seed programs by promoting higher value crops and farming methods that result in higher profits for traditional crops and livestock. United states agency for international development usaid value. The special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction has sent a report to the administration, highlighting the failure of u. State department pushing aerial poppy eradication in afghanistan.

In the late eighteenth century, kabul was established as afghanistans capital. The areas around kandahar, herat, and the broad kabul plain yield fruits of many kinds. Today the largely agrarian country may be better recognized as the worlds leading exporter of opium, but 30. Nourishing afghanistans agricultural sector council on. Frustrated by government raids on opium poppy crops, more and more afghan farmers are turning to a lucrative alternative thats just as illegal. Winner of the 2018 national book critics circle award for nonfiction longlisted for the 2018 national book award for nonfiction from the pulitzer prizewinning author of ghost wars, the epic and enthralling story of americas intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan and pakistan since 911. Afghanistan markets pomegranates world news south and. In the bestselling book state of war, author james risen described an army green beret who said he was. Reducing the cultivation of opium poppies in southern afghanistan. Organic production and use of alternative crops crc. Like coca in the andes, poppies easily outcompete alternative crops. Afghans hope pomegranates will replace poppies sfgate.

Eightyfive percent of the population relies on agriculture and natural resourcebased livelihoods, leaving them vulnerable in a. Organic production and use of alternative crops 1st edition. Joel hafvenstein signed up for a year in afghanistan in the heart of the. More attention could be focused on the development of marketable high value crops and livestock that can give rural. It appeared aimed at a western antidrug program targeting the worlds largest opium production by encouraging farmers to plant alternative crops.

Several of these, such as promoting alternative crops, saw some success but eventually floundered as failure to assess and understand the poppy economy misguided the programs. They require less water than wheat, fetch 20 times the income of cotton, and because of opiums indefinite shelflife, growers can either harvest and sell the opium right there in. Or for its pomegranates, almonds or 142 varieties of apricot. Yet today, food production in afghanistan suffers from poor. Afghanistan was the worlds largest producer of raw opium in 1999 and 2000. Current situation and issue s on agriculture of afghanistan. Usaid partners with afghanistans ministry of agriculture, irrigation and livestock to increase the productivity and incomes of afghan farmers. Uncovering the politics of the poppy foreign affairs. Afghan opium crop soars to new high, fueling taliban forces. Afghanistan officials hope the westernstyle sales savvy will raise the pomegranates cachet and provide its farmers with a lucrative alternative to growing opium poppies. Structure, functioning, dynamics and implications for counternarcotics policy. They have worked in close cooperation with many small scale processing activities on farms and in the food industry. Afghan varietals are widely known in agricultural circles for being especially delicious.

This will decrease demand for opium in afghanistan, which will facilitate conversion of agricultural land to legitimate crops. Genetically modified organisms gmos in pakistan article pdf available in african journal of biotechnology 119. Mercy corps has been working in afghanistan since 1986. Opium cultivation in afghanistan is at an all time high. Cotton and alternative crops program, southern afghanistan. It turns out that this project, intended to revitalize afghanistans agriculture in helmand in the 1950s. Afghan opium crop at fresh high as foreign troops withdraw. Global literacyknowing how the world worksis a must, as what goes on outside a country matters enormously to what happens inside. The aggressive campaign of aerial eradication of coca crops that is part of plan. Going after afghanistans drug trade gretchen peters. Nourishing afghanistans agricultural sector council on foreign.

Legalize it how to solve afghanistans drug problem. In short, this book will make readers more globally literate and put them in a position to make sense of this era. It has been a long time since afghanistan was hailed for its raisins. Afghanistan is the 41st most populous country in the world with a population of 34,169,169 as of june 2017. Agricultural sector over the range have various problems such as restoration of infrastructure as irrigation facilities, the development of alternative crops to replace poppy. Because wheat and dried fruits, the other traditional crops of afghanistan are basically worthless these days. Crc handbook of alternative cash crops crc press book. April 2002 december 2006 this was originally a one year activity designed to purchase the 2001 cotton crop from farmers in four districts of helmand province in return for their pledge to plant cotton instead of poppy. Comparative statics of opium poppy crop share with respect to model. Afghanistan has a large rural population with only 7 million, or 23%, of the population living in urban areas. Alternative development, a worldwide strategy for combating drug production.

The war within the war for afghanistan knopf by rajiv chandrasekaran. Afghanistan is telling the world that it has a trendy, new replacement for its dreaded poppy crop. In the mountainous regions, the hardscrabble terrain is well suited to poppies and little else. Afghanistan has been the worlds leading illicit opium producer since 2001. The authors have a wide range of experience in the growing and processing of alternative crops, the management of the processing projects, and the marketing of organic products. Poppy production has grown enormously in afghanistan during the past decade, even while it has fallen in the golden triangle of myanmar also called burma, laos, and thailand. The northern regions from takhar to badghis and herat and helmand provinces produce cotton.

Alternative narcotics policies nautilus institute for. Afghanistan markets pomegranates as trendy alternative to. Today, estimates put the amount of the worlds opium processed in afghanistan around 93 percent, almost all of which is cultivated in a small selection of southern provinces near the iranian and pakistani borderskandahar. Opium, the sap of poppies, is an addictive drug that can also be made into heroin and morphine. Poppy cultivation in afghanistan the search for alternatives. And the losers in the book are more numerous than the winners. I urged him to pay close attention to the two history chapters of my book.