Unknown disease wipes out half of Afghan opium crop
15:1613/05/2010 KABUL, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - An unknown disease has destroyed almost a half of Afghanistan's opium crop, a source in the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.
The unknown disease, which causes opium poppy flowers to change from red to yellow and then dry up, has spread over poppy plantations in the Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, just before the harvest.
Until recently, Afghanistan produced 92% of the world's opium. The crop is a source of income for both the Afghan peasants and the Taliban.
Peasants suspect British and U.S. troops, the two largest contingents involved in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operating in Afghanistan, of spreading the disease.
The UN source said a fungus that kills poppy plants was discovered by specialists on the leaves of fruit trees and cereals several months ago, but little attention was paid to the discovery. Samples of the fungus have now been sent to the country's capital, Kabul, where examinations are under way to discover the origin of the disease.
The source said experts initially believed bugs were destroying the harvest.
Afghan drug production has reportedly risen by 44% since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001.
An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Russia, which has 30,000-40,000 drug-related deaths every year, has repeatedly raised the alarm over insufficient anti-drug measures by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has about 90 troops in Afghanistan.
Most of the heroin supplied to Europe passes through Russia on its way from the south Central Asian state.
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