The Ministry of Interior reported that poppy cultivation has been banned nationwide since the establishment of the Islamic Emirate and that no one is allowed to farm poppy on their lands.

Preventing the cultivation of poppy is part of the counter-narcotics campaign of the ministry, said Nafi Takor, spokesman for the ministry.

“The Ministry of Interior has been fighting in the field of poppy cultivation and trafficking for a year and the fight will continue to avoid this bad phenomenon,” he said.

Following the issuance of the decree banning the cultivation of poppy, some farmers said that cotton production is a good alternative to cultivating poppy and requested assistance from the Islamic Emirate in this respect.

“Last year, farmers cultivated poppy but this year, they haven’t,” said Raz Mohammad, a farmer.

“We started cotton cultivation when poppy farming was banned. Over the past 10 days, the price of cotton has dropped from 1,000 Afs to 800 Afs,” said Ata Mohammad, a farmer. 

Analysts said that poppy cultivation is still underway in Afghanistan and the government should stop it.

Earlier, the United Nations reported that 85 percent of the world’s opium is currently produced in Afghanistan and there is no obstacle to its smuggling.