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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) called this Monday for "a coordinated and long-term approach to sustainable alternatives" for opium poppy farmers in Afghanistan, whose purchasing power has been notably reduced following the ban on narcotics issued in 2022 by the Taliban.
In a statement accompanying a survey of opium poppy growers, from which opium seeds are extracted, UNODC added that climate change is adding additional pressure on growers with recurrent droughts, irregular rainfall and water scarcity.
"This loss of income goes beyond households, weakening rural purchasing power, reducing local economic activity and increasing the overall vulnerability of communities to poverty and food insecurity," said the UNODC regional representative in Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan and Iran, Oliver Stolpe, quoted in the statement.
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According to the UNODC survey, cereals, mainly wheat, have become the dominant replacement crop, according to 90% of respondents. However, the organization warned that "wheat is a low-value crop compared to opium," noting that in 2023, the average income per hectare of wheat was only $770, while the poppy produced around $10,000 per hectare. According to the UN, the Taliban's ban on narcotics is being complied with by the growers of the northern Afghan provinces of Badakhshan, Balkh and Kunduz, where most of the poppy farmers were located. "Approximately 95% of former poppy farmers surveyed in Badakhshan and Balkh said they stopped cultivating opium due to the ban," UNODC indicated. On December 18th, the UN denounced the rise of drug trafficking on the borders of Afghanistan and has indicated that the ban on poppy cultivation has displaced production and sales towards that area, which, according to the UN, represents a potential benefit for groups considered terrorists by the United Nations, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which could take advantage of the income from the informal cultivation of poppy. The area cultivated with poppy in 2025 was estimated at 10,200 hectares, 20% less than in 2024 and well below the 232,000 hectares quantified in 2022. Consequently, opium production decreased in 2025 with a 32% drop compared to 2024, to an estimated total of 296 tons.
