World Bank Advocating Opium

To resolve the opium problem in Afghanistan, the World Bank thinks it would be best to examine the issue from the country’s producers’ point of view. A survey of 2,272 farmers across 1,500 villages shows different reasons why the farmers stopped cultivating opium last year (UNODC p10). The study showed that 27% of the farmers stopped cultivating the opium poppy because it was against their religion (Islam), 16% stopped because of the villages’ elders, another 16 % stopped because of fear of eradication, 16% because opium is an illegal crop, and 14% because of the fear of imprisonment. About 98% of the farmers surveyed would stop cultivating opium overall if alternative livelihoods were possible. This is important to know because the majority of farmers would prefer doing something else, and they are currently stuck with growing opium to survive and feed their families. If we can provide these farmers with alternatives that will enable them to survive, we can minimize this opium problem as well as help these farmers get on their feet.
The World Bank advocacy proposes shifts in the economic incentives away from opium and toward the legal economy by changes in agriculture, irrigation and livestock, rural enterprise development, rural infrastructure, and local governance. The intervention of agriculture, irrigation, and livestock will impact the rural households, bringing income and employment to the poor. Funding could be directed in enhancing these aspects of farmers’ lives rather than the temporary attacks on opium such as eradication. In the long term, new crops will thrive and drive opium away permanently as they replace the poppy plant.