However, the governor was careful to emphasize the cultivation of
opium poppy for medicinal purposes.
Illicit cultivation and production of
opium poppy was thought to make up about 15 percent of Afghanistan's Gross Domestic Product, which in 2012 stood at about $20bln.
Opium poppy (P.somniferum L.) generally contains about 18 tetra hydrobenzylisoquinoline alkaloids [19].
Acting on information, detectives from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) raided the agricultural lands and found that where local farmers were cultivating
opium poppy on either side of the road at Mohol and Wanjara villages in Maharashtra,
The largest areas of
opium poppy cultivation are in the violent south of the country, where it can be hard to make money on legal crops and where criminal networks exist to buy and sell the poppy crop.
The source of opium is the
opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, one of the few species of Papaver that produces opium.
The Islamic Republic made a major effort to halt
opium poppy cultivation inside Iran decades ago and succeeded within just a few years.
Afghanistancultivated 119,000 hectares of illicit
opium poppy in 2010, which yielded a potential opium gum production of 3,200 metric tonnes, it said.
Drug crops have helped finance insurgents and encourage corruption, particularly the
opium poppy crop in the south where the Taliban control cultivation and smuggling routes.
Researchers at the University of Calgary have discovered the unique genes that allow the
opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, thus opening doors to alternate methods of producing these effective painkillers either by manufacturing them in a lab or controlling the production of these compounds in the plant.
Opium poppy cultivation fell by more than 20 percent in Afghanistan in the past year, a United Nations survey said Wednesday.
Wallabies snacking in
opium poppy fields are getting "high as a kite" and hopping around creating crop circles.
