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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has decreased by 19 percent in 2015, compared to the previous year, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday, citing figures released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics.
"The Afghanistan Opium Survey, which was released today, notes that the cultivation area has decreased for the first time since 2009," Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.
"Eradication efforts across the country, led by various provincial governments, have increased by 40 percent, compared to last year," he said.
The new findings showed that the area under opium poppy cultivation in 2015 is around 183,000 hectares, compared with 224,000 hectares in 2014, while the cultivation area has decreased for the first time since 2009.
"I hope the survey will serve to inform policies and efforts to build on these hard-won achievements," said UNODC's Executive Director Yury Fedotov in a press release.
The sustaining progress "depends on the resolve of the Afghan government, and on the international community, which must devote the needed resources and make a long-term commitment to addressing a threat that imperils all our societies," he added.
The survey further noted that in 2015, potential opium production in Afghanistan amounts to 3,300 tons, a decrease of 48 percent from its 2014 level of 6,400 tons. The average opium yield meanwhile is at 18.3 kilograms per hectare (p/ha) -- 36 percent less than in 2014 (28.7 kilograms p/ha.
Despite these noted decreases, the number of poppy-free provinces fell in 2015, specifically in the Northern region with Balkh losing that status which it had regained in 2014.
Meanwhile, UNODC reported that Hilmand, with some 86,400 hectares (47 percent of the national total), remains the country's major opium-cultivating province.
This is followed by Farah (21,106 hectares), Kandahar (21,020 hectares), and Badghis (12,391 hectares).
As noted in the survey, opium cultivation decreased in most of the main opium poppy-growing provinces, notably Nangarhar, Nimroz and Kandahar, which saw declines of 45, 40 and 38 percent, respectively, but climbed in the provinces of Badghis and Uruzgan -- by 117 percent and 22 percent respectively.
The United Nations is also highlighting that as in previous years, the available technology used to conduct the crop monitoring and assessment between 2014 and 2015 has again been refined and sharpened, leading to greater accuracy of estimates but which may have an impact on the extent of year-on-year changes.
Regarding the southern region, it reportedly has the country's largest share of national opium production with 58 percent recorded, which equals some 1,900 metric tons (MT).
UNODC found Afghanistan's second most important opium producing region to be the west, responsible for 22 percent of national production (720 MT), followed by the eastern region with 13 percent (450 MT).
The remaining areas (north-eastern, northern and central regions) together account for less than eight percent of opium production.
According to the survey, the low production can be attributed to a reduction in area under cultivation, but more importantly to a drop in opium yield per hectare.
This yield decreased in all main opium poppy cultivating regions, led by the southern region, with a 45 percent decrease, followed by the western region (20 percent) and the eastern region (8 percent).
In terms of eradication, efforts across the country led by the various provincial governments increased a collective 40 percent, compared to last year, or from around 2,700 hectares to 3,760 hectares.
During the latest eradication campaign, there were fewer casualties reported than the previous year: in 2015, five lives were lost and 18 persons were injured compared to 2014, when 13 lives were lost and 26 persons injured, the survey said.
