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An Analysis of the Process of Expansion of Opium Poppy Cultivation to New Districts in Afghanistan

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STRATEGIC STUDY #1

Preliminary Report JUNE 1998

5. The extent of opium poppy cultivation in Logar and Laghman

5.1 Logar Province
By mid April 1998 opium poppy had been found in 10 villages out of a total of 54 villages surveyed in Azro district. There was no evidence to suggest that these villages had cultivated opium poppy prior to 1998.2/

Eight of the ten villages that were found to be cultivating opium poppy in Azro were concentrated in the Tang area. Tang is a low-lying area of Azro district and as such is more suitable for opium poppy cultivation due its warmer climate (see page 16). Moreover, Tang is also only 2 hours walk from Hisarak in Nangarhar province, an opium poppy producing district with ethnic and commercial links to Azro.

Key informants suggest that opium poppy cultivation in Azro is currently restricted to small plots cultivated by one or two farmers on an experimental basis. The results from the UNDCP Annual Opium Poppy Survey for 1998 indicate the intensity of opium cultivation is variable, ranging from less than 1%, to 30 % of the total cultivable land in those villages cultivating opium poppy in 1998. However, on average only 3.5% of cultivable land was cultivated with opium in those villages where opium was being grown in 1998.

5.2. Laghman Province
Opium poppy cultivation is not new to all the villages in Qarghayi District (see page 17). The 1996 UNDCP Annual Opium Poppy Survey revealed small scale cultivation amounting to less
than 5 jeribs.3/ In 1997 resource and security constraints meant that Qarghayi could not be surveyed. Given reports that opium poppy had increased considerably in 1998, Qarghayi was
included in the Survey in 1998.

The initial results from the 1988 survey reveal that all 61 villages in Qarghayi cultivated opium poppy. On average 2.4% of cultivable land was dedicated to opium poppy in 1998. However, the intensity of opium poppy cultivation varied from less than 1% to almost 17% with those villages with the highest intensity concentrated in the south of the district bordering Nangarhar.

Indeed, towards the northern villages of Qarghayi, opium poppy is less evident. Interviews with farmers revealed that many had planted opium poppy for the first time this year. There were a significant number of examples of experimental planting in both Qarghayi and Mehterlam with opium poppy cultivated in a single line amidst a field of gandana and coriander, and sometimes potato.

In Mehterlam district 24 villages were found to be cultivating opium poppy. Key informants indicate that poppy cultivation is relatively insignificant in the majority of these villages with one or two households cultivating less than one jerib each. The results from the UNDCP Annual Opium Poppy Survey indicate that 69.5 jeribs of opium poppy were cultivated in Mehterlam this year, representing only 1.2% of the total cultivable land in those villages cultivating opium poppy. Village cultivation was found to range from one half of one jerib to 10 jeribs. The highest intensity of opium poppy cultivation was in Bazal where 15 % of total village cultivable land was dedicated to opium poppy.

Although opium poppy has been reported in the districts of Alingar and Alisheng in Laghman it was not possible to visit these two districts due to security constraints.

6. The links between core areas and new areas of opium poppy cultivation

Fieldwork would suggest that the interdependent nature of labour markets and commercial trade between districts, combined with cross district ethnic and family links, has led to a high degree
of exposure to opium cultivation in both Laghman and Logar.

According to respondents, population growth has fuelled a process of both permanent and temporary migration in Azro district. As such, some migrants from Azro have settled in Jalalabad and Pakistan on a permanent basis, leaving their lands in the custody of family members or tenants. Temporary migration has proven to be a viable strategy during times of seasonal under-employment in Azro. The proximity of the lower lying districts of Hisarak, Sherzad and Khogiani provide seasonal migrants with temporary employment opportunities during the spring harvest in April, whilst allowing them to return to their own land to harvest in May/June. Indeed, respondents indicated that geographic and tribal links had made Hisarak a particularly popular destination for Ahmadzai Pashtoons of Azro district in search of seasonal employment amongst their tribal affiliates.

The prevalence of opium poppy in Hisarak, Sherzad and Khogiani and the labour intensive nature of the poppy harvest would seem to have provided significant employment opportunities for migrant labourers from Azro and other districts. However, for those migrants who were willing travel further afield the climatic variations between (i) Shinwar, (ii) Sukhurud and Khogiani (iii) Sherzad and (iv) Hisarak offer the opportunity of securing two months employment harvesting opium poppy. Respondents in Azro indicated that family members had spent a number of years harvesting opium poppy in the neighbouring districts in Nangarhar. It was suggested that through this seasonal work family members had acquired the necessary expertise in opium poppy cultivation, later prompting opium cultivation amongst some households in Azro.

The importance of prior contact with core areas of opium poppy cultivation was reiterated in interviews in both Mehterlam and Qarghayi. Prior experience of harvesting opium poppy in Khogiani and Shinwar was also prevalent amongst a number of the new opium cultivators interviewed in Laghman. Those that had not worked themselves on poppy cultivation indicated that they had contact to Shinwar through family connections.�

It was noticeable that all respondents cultivating opium in Laghman and Logar for the first time in 1998 were owner cultivators.

2/ The UNOPS funded Baseline Survey for Azro conducted by ACBAR in December 1997 estimated that 29 jeribs of opium poppy was cultivated in the district in the 1997-98 growing season.

3/ One jerib is equivalent to one-fifth of one hectare.