“I am hopeful to harvest some 100 kilogrammes of hashish from this field and that will help me survive through the harsh winter,” said Awaz Mohammad, a farmer in northern Baghlan province, while strolling on his small hash farm.
Carrying an assault rifle AK-47, the bearded man defended farming the contraband, saying since the government did not allow them to plant poppy, the villagers adopted hashish as an alternative to make a living.
Interestingly, the hashish farms are located along a busy road linking Andarab district to the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri and anyone, including police personnel, can easily spot the hashish farms when driving.
Afghan government with the support of the international community had been fighting hard to eliminate poppy. However, Afghanistan, according to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) had topped amongst poppy producing nations.
According to the report released in October 2011, the potential opium production in 2011 was estimated at 5,800 metric tons, a 61 percent increase compared with 2010 when nearly 50 percent of the illegal product was affected by disease.
With government’s hectic campaign against the illicit harvest, farmers have abandoned poppy cultivation in peaceful areas. Nonetheless, some farmers availing fragile security, corruption and alleged police connivance, resorted to hashish which is an easily profitable trade but illegal nonetheless, in Afghanistan.
“People with luxury vehicles come to our doorstep, pay cash and take our hashish out of the district,” said Mohammad.
Justifying his act, Mohammad went on to say that 7 kilogrammes of wheat cost 150 Afghanis while the price of 1 kilogramme of hashish was between 3, 000 to 4,000 Afghanis (around 70 to 80 U.S. dollars) at door step.
“I am a poor man and have no permanent job and no regular income. In the past I used to grow poppy but now I grow hashish,” Mohammad added, saying the poor and jobless people had no choice but to take maximum advantage from the situation to earn as much as possible. Afghan government in 2010 had announced 20 out of the country’s 34 provinces as poppy-free. According to officials, the opium poppy is largely grown in the southern region where security is poor and Taliban militants are active.
Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, the former strongholds of Taliban fighters where the security problems are still prevalent are the major drug producing provinces in Afghanistan according to the report.
However, the report said that the number of poppy-free provinces decreased from 20 in 2010 to 17 in 2011. Baghlan and Faryab provinces in the northern region and Kapisa province in the eastern region lost their poppy-free status and resumed poppy cultivation.
Parallel to unchecked poppy products in Afghanistan, the number of drug addicts has also gone up and more than 1 million Afghans, according to officials, are addicts in the country.
Similar to Awaz Mohammad, another farmer Abdul Raziq is also looking forward to reaping good profits from his small hashish farm this year. “I am hopeful to harvest at least 50 kilogrammes of hashish and earn some 150,000 Afghanis (some 3000 U.S. dollars) this year.”
Officials though, describe hashish plantations as isolated cases, claiming the government would continue to fight against all kinds of narcotics vigorously.