Ending the production of opium in Afghanistan

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Baroness Rawlings presents the case for UK financial support to encourage an end to the cultivation of opium poppies, ahead of a Lords debate on Tuesday.

I thank the government for allowing time for me to raise this very important question which impacts not only DfID but also the Ministry of Defence, as peace in Helmand would have a huge effect on our soldiers out there.

With the problems created in Afghanistan due to the war over the last three or four decades, there exists keen interest to help the people of Afghanistan, especially within the UK, to better their lives and develop a strong and stable nation.

One of the steps to creating economic strength and stability within Afghanistan is through agriculture and namely the substitution of opium poppies for the cultivation of pomegranates.

In 2007, Afghanistan produced 95 per cent of the world's refined opiates, with a street value of some $38bn. On average 90 per cent of the heroin in the UK stems from Afghanistan.

The cost to the UK alone for the heroin problem is £16.4bn per annum.

Furthermore opium cultivation now takes place almost exclusively in provinces most affected by insurgency, with Helmand being the most profitable.

Therefore a substitution would also seriously damage Taliban financing. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said: "There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of high opium cultivation. Since drugs are funding insurgency, and insurgency enables drug cultivation, insurgency and narcotics must be fought together." The Taliban are thought to have earned as much as $100m from this trade.

Since the Russian invasion of 1979, agriculture has received new impetus and lately Afghanistan has become poised to become a major exporter of pomegranates, a traditional crop for centuries. Foundations such as POM354 are already in place trying to persuade more farmers and tribal elders to make this transition from the growth of opium poppies to pomegranates and to help meet the needs of farmers.

DfID recently launched its 'country plan' for the next four years for Afghanistan.

This plan sets out the framework for Britain's aid to Afghanistan with a pledge of over £127m per year between now and 2013. This is with £30m a year being used to help farmers move away from opium cultivation. As a result, other nations are beginning to take interest such as the US, Canada and the Netherlands.

FCO does acknowledge that eliminating opium poppy without developing viable legal livelihoods is not sustainable and therefore we suggest the focus to be on substitution, mainly through pomegranates.

Although previously many nations were skeptical about channeling aid through the Afghan government, recent appointments such as the new agricultural minister, Asif Rahimi, demonstrate that a new stance is taking shape.

Given that the case for replacing opium poppies is clear; why pomegranates?

To begin with Afghanistan is known to have the best pomegranates in the world, Kandahar, in the south, produces perhaps the world's best. The Afghan government is currently implementing a $12m US-funded initiative intended to modernise and expand the country's pomegranate industry.

However, many farmers still need to be persuaded to make the transition from poppies to pomegranates. 14 of the 34 provinces are poppy-free and hopefully more will follow this trend. The key organization that is doing this is POM354, which was founded in Britain by James Brett.

Its concept is quite simple and as a result has led to huge popularity within Afghanistan and the rest of the world. In a short space of time, POM354 has managed to establish substantial consensus within the government and amongst farmers.

In November 2008, 22,000 farmers signed up to the POM354 scheme and as a result in March 2009, 40,000 pomegranate trees were planted. Furthermore as a result of aid from DfID and work by foundations such as POM354, Afghanistan as a whole saw a six per cent decrease in opium production from 2007 to 2008.

The goal now is for POM354 to obtain financial support from organisations in donor countries such as the UK. It is generally accepted that there is only a short window to alter Afghanistan's agriculture in favor of pomegranates.

Without outside aid, the project would not be able to become operational as farmers need to be sustained during the three year period of conversion from the time the saplings are planted to when they become fruitful. POM354's target is to develop 175,000 hectares of mature pomegranate orchards over the next 10-15 years, generating substantial income.

Through its various schemes, farmers will be creating their own infrastructure to facilitate this new agricultural development and in the process generating greater revenue per hectare than that of the poppy.

I urge the government to continue to support this project. As a result, heroin supply would drastically fall and the Afghan people would have a sustainable development programme, prosperous enough to resist the Taliban and in doing so creating worthwhile livelihoods and a greater chance towards peace in those areas.