In the villages where opium poppy was being cultivated for the first year only one respondent indicated that he had been approached by traders to grow opium poppy. Opium seeds had been provided by the trader and the farmer was informed that the trader would return to purchase the final crop. However, the owner of the land had also worked as a labourer in Khogiani during the previous year's opium poppy harvest and had developed links with itinerant harvesters that would assist during the coming harvest.
In those villages where opium had been produced for the first time in 1997, traders had approached them in 1998 to offer an advance. Traders had not approached them in the previous years. These villages were mainly in the southern areas of Qarghayi district. One respondent had taken an advance to pay for the labour he required to thin and weed his opium poppy. The other two respondents had declined the advance due to the low price for opium being offered.
Upon inquiring where the final opium would be sold all respondents expressed the view that traders would visit their area once they had heard opium was being produced there. All the respondents indicated that they would sell the opium themselves to dealers in core producing areas should traders not appear. In Azro farmers suggested they would travel to Hisarak or Jalalabad to sell their opium. In Qarghayi and Mehterlam, Jalalabad and Ghani Khel were given as possible locations for selling their opium.
None of the respondents interviewed in Logar or Laghman reported having any knowledge of UNDCP's alternative development activities in Shinwar. This may indicate that new opium poppy cultivation in Logar and Laghman is not a function of farmers desire to attract development assistance from UNDCP or other development donors.
None of the farmers interviewed in Logar or Laghman indicated that they had any knowledge of a ban on new areas of opium poppy cultivation. Some respondents in Laghman suggested that the district administrator, the woliswol, had given them sanction to cultivate opium poppy in 1997 but had not made any comment in 1998. The woliswol's silence was subsequently interpreted as implicit consent by the farmers to cultivate in 1998. Indeed, from the woliswol's office in Qarghayi it was possible to see poppy on three sides, the furthest field being a distance of only 400 meters.
Many respondents questioned the validity of a ban on opium poppy cultivation in all those districts that had not produced poppy in previous years, suggesting that such an approach lacked credibility given the higher levels of production in other districts.
In its initial year of cultivation in both Laghman and Logar, opium poppy would appear to be undertaken by owner-cultivators. Key informants and respondents indicated that opium poppy is often cultivated on an experimental basis by one or two households in a village. In Laghman there is significant evidence of households intercropping poppy during its initial year of cultivation. It is possible that this strategy is adopted to test the market for opium and the suitability of soils and climate, whilst minimising the risks associated with crop and market failure. These small plots of opium would seem to provoke the interest of neighbouring households much like any agricultural demonstration plot, raising the threat of expansion in subsequent years.
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 opium cultivation in both Laghman and Logar. In particular a number of respondents had family members who worked as itinerant opium poppy harvesters in neighbouring districts during periods of agricultural underemployment.
The expansion of opium poppy to new areas of cultivation would appear to be facilitated by itinerant poppy harvesters. Demographic pressures and the absence of off-farm income opportunities have led to growing seasonal agricultural underemployment. The prevalence of poppy in the districts of Nangarhar and the labour intensive nature of the poppy harvest would seem to have provided significant employment opportunities for migrant labourers from both within Nangarhar and neighbouring provinces. For those migrants who are willing to travel between climatic zones there is the opportunity of securing two months employment harvesting opium poppy. The interdependence of the labour market between these different climatic zones would suggest that any strategy aimed at reducing opium cultivation in one district would also need to address on and off-farm income opportunities for labourers from neighbouring districts. A failure to absorb the surplus in labour supply caused by a reduction in opium poppy cultivation may provoke itinerant harvesters to search for employment opportunities in neighbouring districts. Given the suitability of the environmental conditions in most of Afghanistan and the particular skills these migrants have to offer, relocation of opium poppy cultivation may be a possible response.
Respondents did not attribute an economic value to household labour in the assessment of the total costs of agricultural inputs. Providing alternative income earning opportunities for family members, including women, might increase the opportunity cost households associate with opium cultivation and thereby reduce its perceived profitability.
Initial fieldwork would suggest that traders do not appear to take a pro-active role in the expansion of opium cultivation. In the initial year of cultivation only one household was found to have been approached by traders either during the time of planting or at harvest. In subsequent years it was reported that traders have offered advances and visited households at the farmgate in order to purchase opium. This may suggest that the farmgate trade in opium is not highly structured but a relatively free market that follows market signals rather than creates them.
None of the respondents indicated that they were aware of a ban on opium poppy cultivation in new areas. If true greater efforts will need be made promote the ban in all areas currently under Taliban control using a variety of media, including electronic and print and interpersonal communications.
