FARMERS IN EAST AFGHANISTAN RESUME GROWING OPIUM POPPIES

ZANGOBAY, Afghanistan - Farmers in the Jalalabad region in eastern
Afghanistan have resumed growing poppy and processing opium just days after
the ouster of the fundamentalist Taliban regime.

It takes little effort to find a poppy field. They abound amid the green
fields of wheat and lucerne, just beyond the last houses in Jalalabad, in
the scenic countryside around the capital of Nangarhar province.

They are imperceptible at first glance: patches of poppy plants have been
carefully parcelled out and at first glance appear to be uncultivated.

The shoots are still tiny, no more than two or three centimetres long.
Poppy seeds were planted less than two weeks ago.

But in three months, the fields will be covered with big flowers from which
the farmers extract the precious milk that becomes opium.

There is nothing secret about the highly lucrative activity. Zangobay
village, where poppy cultivation is rife, lies within view of a highway
leading to Pakistan, the Jalalabad airport and a major military base.

And Zangobay is not the only village sporting poppies. On the other side of
Jalalabad, towards White Mountains and the caves of Tora Bora, there are
more poppy fields, as there are in the neighbouring Khogiani district.

In this area, as in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, opium
poppies are part of a tradition.

For much of their rule, the Taliban militia encouraged poppy cultivation,
clearly breaching Islamic teachings. Opium yielded a major part of their
revenue.

By late 1990s, Afghanistan accounted for three-fourths of global opium
production and thus of heroin. Opium production shot up from 2,000 tonnes
in 1995 to 4,600 tonnes in 1999, UN figures show.

But in July 2000, Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar decreed a ban on
poppy cultivation, in an effort to win international diplomatic
recognition. Poor farmers hard already struggling after three years of
drought were hard hit.

So when the Taliban were chased out of Jalalabad by mid-November, it was a
green light to replant poppies: some even ploughed through fields of wheat
to plant opium poppy.

"There are about one hundred families in Zangobay, and about eighty are
cultivating poppy," said Zarghon Shah, 24.

"Now, about 30 jerebs, which is six hectares, are planted with poppy," the
young village chief told AFP.

And if you do the maths it's easy to see why. Given the instability of
local currency, the afghani, Pakistani rupees are the preferred tender in
the region.

One jereb of wheat earns about 5,000 rupees ($A167) but the same area would
yield 14 kilograms of opium fetching 420,000 rupees ($A13,765).

Khalil Ahmad, 22, who lives in the Qasaba region is sold on opium: "In
three months from now, the buyers will come and select the best quality of
opium".

Some farmers try to maximise their profits by transporting their product to
major markets on the road to Pakistan.

There is just one troubling thought for the farmers: the new Afghan
government's intentions. Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has said a
commission would be set up to combat drugs.

However, the current ground reality, as a UN official said, is that "there
is no sign of restriction on the cultivation of poppy in the near future".