Afghanistan is the world’s top grower of opium, and the crop accounts for hundreds of thousands of jobs. Afghan opium production took a hit last year as an intense drought dried fields and shrunk cultivation areas. According to a UN survey, potential opium production dropped by 29 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year. Most poppy production in Afghanistan is in the Taliban-controlled southern part. But so far, efforts to move farmers away from their lucrative but dangerous poppies have met with little success.

Source: The Express Tribune April 18, 2019 06:11 UTC