AFGHANISTAN / OPIUM EXPORTS

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says the potential export value of Afghanistan's opium has dropped 18 per cent this year, but cautions that further progress hinges on rooting out corruption in the South Asian nation. FILE

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:18
• Production Date: 18 December 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME - UNODC
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; NARCOTIC DRUGS
• Geographic Subject: AFGHANISTAN
• MAMS Id: U091218d

Description

STORY: AFGHANISTAN / OPIUM EXPORTS
TRT: 1.18
SOURCE: UNODC
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS

DATELINE: FILE

Shotlist

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, AFGHANISTAN

1. Close up, opium poppy capsule and lancing
2. Wide shot, Afghan farmer in poppy field
3. Close up, measuring opium poppy capsule
4. Various shots, farmer lancing poppy capsule to extract resin
5. Various shots, eradication of poppy fields with motorbikes
6. Various shots, eradication of poppy fields by hand
7. Various shots, Afghan army in conflict with Taliban in Helmand province

Storyline

The potential export value of Afghanistan’s opium has dropped eighteen per cent this year, the United Nations (UN) anti-drug body reported today, but it cautioned that further progress hinges on rooting out corruption in the South Asian nation.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the export value of opiates dropped from 3.4 billion dollars in 2008, or one-third of Afghanistan’s GDP, to 2.8 billion dollars in 2009, equivalent to one-quarter of the GDP.

The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2009 attributed the decline to lower opium cultivation, lower production, lower prices and relatively higher GDP.

The new study found that lower revenues and excess production have dampened supply, with cultivation falling twenty two per cent and production dropping by ten per cent. Also, the number of people involved in opium cultivation has decreased one-third to 1.6 million.