Poppy on 300 hectares of Badakhshan land eradicated

FIAZABAD (PAN): Poppy crops grown over up to 300 hectares of land have been eradicated as part of an ongoing anti-poppy campaign in northeastern Badakhshan province, where 5,000 hectares of land is cultivated with the illicit plant, an official said on Sunday.

The campaign that began 15 days ago targeted poppy fields in Kisham, Tishkan, Draim, Urgu, Yafta and Jurm districts, the governor’s spokesman, Abdul Maroof Rasikh, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said the eradication drive would continue for another two months, saying poppy fields in Khash, Baharak and Warduj towns would be destroyed until next week.

Counternarcotics department chief, Mohammad Qaed Faiz, said up to 5,000 hectares of land had been cultivated with poppy in 12 districts of the province. He said their aim was to destroy poppies across the province.

“Before we would cultivate wheat and rice in our fields, but the crops were not profitable,” a farmer, Mohammad Aslam, said.

He insisted the government had not extended them any assistance like improved quality wheat seeds and chemical fertiliser.

myn/ma