Higher profit encourages Farah farmers to replace poppies with cotton, vegetables

FARAH -- Farmers in Farah province have increasingly turned to cultivating cotton and greenhouse vegetables in lieu of poppies in the past two years.

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of poppies, the source of sap that is refined into heroin, and in recent years its production and exports have boomed.

However, Farah province -- once a top producer of poppies -- has seen a drastic decrease in production this year.

Instead, cotton was cultivated on 80 hectares of land this year, a 30% increase compared to last year, said Abdul Momin Faisal, director of the Farah Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock.

"This year, 160 tonnes of cotton were harvested in Farah," Faisal said. "Compared to previous years, cotton yields are higher this year."

"Greenhouse cultivation has also expanded greatly this year in Farah," he said. "More than 7,150 greenhouses exist in the provincial centre and districts of Farah, including hundreds established this year."

These greenhouses cultivate cucumbers, tomatoes, ladyfingers, eggplants and other vegetables, said Faisal.

"Most of the greenhouses and cotton cultivation are on land where poppies were cultivated until two years ago," he said, adding that both are more profitable than growing poppies.

Western Farah province has fertile agricultural lands that serve as a breadbasket for the rest of Afghanistan.

While drought and water shortages are serious issues, farmers in recent years have utilised deep wells and solar energy to irrigate their farms.

Improved income

Masood Ishaqzai, 29, grows cucumbers in two greenhouses in Kok Bala village, west of Farah city.

Ishaqzai grew poppies until three years ago.

"When we were cultivating poppies, we lost money," he said. "Poppy cultivation requires more work, while its return is low. Since switching to greenhouses, we have put in less work but are making money now."

"The majority of the youth who cultivated poppies became addicted to drugs," he added. "Drugs destroyed our youth. This haram plant is not worth cultivating, because it destroys human lives. "

While farmers did most of the work for poppy cultivation, profits went into the pockets of smugglers and drug mafias, Ishaqzai said.

"Instead of poppy cultivation, most residents of villages around us have turned to greenhouse cultivation," he added. "This cultivation is clean, and its income is halal [legitimate]."

Abdul Raziq, 25, a farmer in Farah, said he switched from cultivating poppies to cotton two years ago.

"Poppy cultivation made us miserable. We would work hard the entire year, but there was no return on our work," he said. "Since cultivating cotton over the last two years, I have good income and my life has improved."

"All farmers in our area have replaced poppies with cotton," he said.

"In the past, 80% of [arable] land would grow poppies, but this year there is not even a single poppy plant cultivated."

Rescue from destruction

Growing a haram crop such as poppy weighs on the mind, say some farmers in Farah.

Abdul Matin Hakimi, 28, a farmer in the provincial centre of Farah, cultivated cotton on half a hectare of his farmland this year.

He said he is happy he gave up growing poppies, and that he no longer feels guilty.

"I cultivated poppies for several years, but it brought nothing except losses, sin and destruction," Hakimi said. "I decided to cultivate cotton, and in the last two years I have had a good income due to high cotton yields."

"I collected 2.5 tonnes of cotton from my 0.5 hectare of land. Each tonne of cotton is sold up to 80,000 AFN ($915) in Farah city," he added.

"Due to its high yields and income, most farmers in our area now cultivate cotton instead of poppies."

In addition to selling cotton, Hakimi produces cottonseed oil and sells byproducts to livestock owners as animal feed.

Any other plant is better than poppies, because poppies defame Afghanistan and hook Afghan youth on drugs, said Ghulam Nabi Noorzai, 38, a farmer in Farah who operates several greenhouses.

The farmers in his village, having seen many of the local youth addicted to illegal drugs, have vowed never to cultivate poppies again, said Noorzai.

"Poppy is a bad plant that wasted our lives for years ... Drug smugglers would encourage us by saying that growing poppies generates a good income, but they were lying for their own interests," he said.

"In the past, when I was cultivating poppies, I was in debt even during the harvest season."

"Since I have started greenhouse cultivation, my annual income has been 200,000 to 300,000 AFN ($2,290 to $3,430)," he added.