OPIUM PRODUCTION SOARING AMONG AFGHAN FARMERS

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that Afghanistan
must offer alternative livelihoods to poppy farmers if the country is to
eradicate soaring opium production, and he called on the international
community to help in the effort. U.N. officials say the country's opium
harvest could top 2,500 tons this year, putting Afghanistan among the
world's top producers and exporters of opium.

Afghanistan produced 185 tons of opium under the former Taliban regime,
according to the U.N. International Drug Control Program. Many farmers rely
heavily on opium sales to feed their families. Karzai said providing
alternatives to poppy cultivation was vital to the eradication effort.

The government banned opium production nationwide in April, offering
farmers $500 per acre of poppy. But the ban has done little to dissuade
farmers, who can earn as much as $6,400 an acre for the crop, according to
the United Nations.

Poppy production increased drastically when Afghan farmers began to plant
the crop again after the Taliban was ousted last year by U.S. and
opposition forces.