Strategic Study1: An Analysis of the Process of Expansion of Opium Poppy Cultivation to New Districts in Afghanistan
Objective: This study seeks to further UNDCP's understanding of the structural and motivational factors that lie behind the expansion of drug crop production to new areas of cultivation.
Summary: This study will seek to interview poppy cultivators in districts where poppy has been recently introduced. Attempts will be made to contact the farmers cultivating poppy in these areas in an effort to further UNDCP's understanding of the process of expansion. Semi-structured interviews will focus on the role of tenancy arrangements, ethnic or kinship ties, and push-pull factors in determining expansion. This work will be undertaken in subsequent years should new areas come under poppy cultivation.
Phase I: Interview poppy cultivators in 1998 in areas where poppy has not been produced in previous years
Initial Target Districts for 1998: Azro in Logar and Qarghayi and Meliterlarn in Laghman province.
Subsequent Target Districts for 1998: Sarobi in Kabul and Tagab in Kapisa.
Phase II: Interviews will be undertaken in new districts and provinces should new areas come under opium poppy cultivation in� subsequent years.
Methodology: Due to the sensitive nature of the subject and the locations in which the interviews are taking place emphasis should be on informal interviews. A questionnaire should not be used. Instead the interviewer should focus on a number of key issues discussed in a conversational manner. Notes should not be taken during the interview but should be written up once the interview has finished and the interviewer has departed.
Emphasis should be given to conducting in-depth interviews over a wide geographical area to assist in identifying generic issues that could be explored in other districts during subsequent stages of the study. Priority should be given to interviewing first time cultivators of opium poppy. These should be identified in consultation with key informants, including the surveyor for the district. However, consideration should also be given to interviewing a smaller sample of households who have cultivated opium poppy for two to three years in order to analyse the process of expansion and consolidation of opium poppy in a particular village or location.
Identify whether: (A) landowner; or (B) sharecroppper?
If Landowner
(i)
What crops have they produced in previous years?
(ii)
If produced poppy, in which year/s?
(iii)
Why have they opted to produce poppy this year? ie. What is different about this year from last year? Agricultural conditions changed?- ie. access to water? Fragmentation of land? Relative prices of crops? - ie Wheat v Poppy Need for credit? What for? Approached by individuals to grow poppy? - ie Traders or sharecroppers?
(iv)
Where did they learn about poppy cultivation?
(v)
Poppy requires a lot of labour, what area does the labour they require for harvesting come from? Hired? Family?
(vi)
Given that this area is a new poppy growing area where will they sell their opium?
(vii)
Do they intend to grow poppy next year? What are the reasons for their answer?
(viii)
What do they include when calculating the profitability of opium poppy?
(ix)
Have they heard that the Taliban have imposed a ban on new areas of cultivation?
(x)
Have they heard about UNDCP's activities in other areas of Afghanistan?
If sharecropper
(i)
What is their province and district of origin?
(ii)
What was the last district in which they sharecropped/rented land?
(iii)
What prompted their relocation here?
(iv)
What crops did they produce in previous area?
(v)
If they produced poppy in previous area, for how many years?
(vi)
Where did they learn about poppy cultivation?
(vii)
Any family/ethnic links between area where previously sharecropped and current area?
(viii)
Poppy requires a lot of labour, what area does the labour they require for harvesting come from? Hired? Family?
(ix)
Given that this area is a new poppy growing area where will they sell their opium?
(x)
Will they stay in the area or return to previous area?
(xi)
Do they intend to grow poppy next year? What are the reasons for answer?
(xii)
What do they include when calculating the profitability of opium poppy?
(xiii)
Have they heard that the Taliban have imposed a ban on new areas of cultivation?
(xiv)
Have they heard about UNDCP's activities in other areas of Afghanistan?
