Poppy Production in Afghanistan

According to Parenti’s Tropic of Chaos, Afghanistan produced 90% of the world’s opium population in 2011. How are they able to do this? By growing and selling poppies. The best environment for poppies to germinate is in an area with a significant amount of dry soil and daylight. Parenti states, “...poppy uses only one-sixth the water needed for wheat.” As climate change is increasingly becoming worse, the high temperatures and droughts for Afghanistan are becoming worse. However, this is a huge benefit when it comes to planting and producing poppies. Although poppy production is increasing with drought, it’s not an invincible plant. Yes, it uses less water to germinate and grow, but extreme droughts can prevent this from happening at all. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cultivation had a 32% increase and poppy production had a 10% decrease in 2022 due to the droughts. The efforts of farmers are increasing while the results are not what they are hoping for. In general, compared to wheat, poppies are sought out more and are more successful when it comes to production.

Farmers and producers plan thoroughly throughout the year when they have to plant and harvest the poppies. During the months through June to October, Afghanistan gets about three to ten millimeters of precipitation per month. Since that would not be ideal for germinating poppies, farmers plant poppies during the month of October to give the poppies a good chance to get the most precipitation they can before the dry months come back around. “Conditions in Afghanistan also have a complex intra-annual interaction with large-scale climate phenomena, specifically the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole. The latter is associated with drought conditions in Afghanistan” (Climate Change Knowledge Portal).

As wheat productions decrease with drought, Afghanistan gets their money out of poppies rather than the little amount of wheat they have. With this, Parenti says, “...though grain prices have surged through 2008, poppy still earns more than wheat.” Not only does this make Afghanistan rich in money, but it also makes them rich in production. With an increase in drought and a high price for poppies, the production and sales have slowly increased throughout the years. In 2011 when the book, Tropic of Chaos came out, Afghanistan spiked with a production of about 6,000 tons of poppies. Since then, the biggest year for poppy production in Afghanistan was 2017 with almost 9,000 tons of poppies, but rates have decreased back down to about 6,500 tons in the year of 2022.

        Since the Taliban overtook Afghanistan back in 2021, the poppy production rates have significantly decreased. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they banned the poppy production from the country entirely. Taliban fighters would go around the country and destroy poppy fields while the farmers watched. For some of the farmers who contribute to the poppy population, growing poppies provided for them and their families. Their livelihoods depended on the growing and selling of poppies, and the banning of this plant has put them in a crisis, especially with the country itself going through the worst drought it has experienced in years. According to NPR, “Day laborers can earn upwards of $300 a month harvesting opium from the poppies…the ban will likely strike a heavy blow to millions of impoverished farmers and day laborers who rely on proceeds from the crop to survive.” With an incline in drought and a decline in income for each farmer, survival in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly more difficult with scarce food and other materials required to get through the drought.