KABUL (Pajhwok): Acting Agriculture Minister Attaullah Umari has asked international organisations to support Afghanistan’s poppy eradication efforts, a statement said on Tuesday.
During a meeting with Roza Ounbayeva, deputy head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Umari said the upcoming UN meeting in Doha would be a good opportunity to draw donors’ attention to this point.
The upcoming third UN meeting on Afghanistan in Doha is a good opportunity to talk to donors about financing an alternative livelihood to poppy crops for the farmers, he said. The two-day huddle is expected to take place on Jun 30.
Umari highlighted the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) efforts in fight against poppy and reducing the level of this illicit crop to zero, he called on the international organization to help the country’s farmers with an alternative livelihood for the poppy.
He hoped that the UN active organizations in the field of agriculture would help the Afghan farmers with alternative livelihood to the poppy.
The Agriculture minister said: “The IEA government banned the cultivation of poppy and we hope the farmers to be supported with the provision of necessary alternative livelihood to the poppy.”
Otunbayeva’s said: “Issues such as private sector, banking and counter narcotics would be discussed during the 3rd Doha meeting and the representatives of 25 countries, 3 international institutions, Asian development Bank (ADB) and the UN mission for the country would attend this meeting.”
She said the representative of the IEA have a good chance to draw the attention of internationals to financing and introducing an alternative to poppy crops in the country.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Maulvi Sadr Azam Osmani criticized the denial of the UN towards the farmers and people of Afghanistan after the ban on the cultivation of poppy in this country.
He said: “The IEA authorities had reduced the cultivation of poppy near to zero in the country, but the UN institutions did nothing for the farmers while it had its positive impact on the level of narcotics in other countries too.”
The head of the UN Development Program Surayo Buzurukova during this meeting said: “We must work on the issue of alternative livelihood for the poppy to respond to the needs of the farmers, we must keep on working and out cooperation in this regard must be bilateral.”
After the ban on poppy cultivation in this country, government prepared five year action plan using limited resources for an alternative livelihood for the farmers and work was underway on its implementation.
Aw/nh
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