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Afghanistan unveils 5-year plan to replace poppy farming, close chapter on US-era drug economy

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 04 November 2025 8:26 AM

The Taliban-led government has approved a five-year program to replace poppy cultivation with sustainable crops, marking another blow to the US-fueled heroin trade that flourished during Washington's two-decade occupation of the Asian country.

In a statement on Monday, Afghanistan's ministry of agriculture announced a five-year national plan to replace poppy cultivation with sustainable and legal farming alternatives, aiming to support nearly 150,000 farmers with $71 million in funding.

"This plan is designed to provide legal and sustainable economic opportunities for farmers in the sectors of agriculture, livestock, natural resources, and irrigation," Sher Mohammad Hatami, spokesperson for the ministry, announced.

The initiative, which promotes crops such as saffron, cotton, wheat, and asafoetida, also includes programs for orchard development, livestock expansion, irrigation improvements, and farmer training.

According to Afghan officials, the goal is to provide farmers with stable livelihoods after the Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation in 2021, when the armed group took over Afghanistan following a chaotic US military withdrawal.

For decades, Afghanistan was the world's largest producer of opium poppies, the raw material for heroin, for consumption in Europe and elsewhere. Poppy farming had surged during the 20-year US occupation, when drug lords tied to the CIA and the US-backed Afghan government flourished under Washington's watch.

The new policy comes as Afghan farmers say the poppy ban has left them struggling to survive and are calling for genuine support to transition to alternative crops.

"We were forced to grow this crop, and now the government doesn't help us even once a year," said Barat, a farmer from Badakhshan told the Kabul-based TOLO News.

Azim, another farmer from Badakhshan, also said that they "want support in finding alternatives to drug cultivation, because farmers in this province are in need."

The US and its allies, under the pretext of a "War on Terror," invaded Afghanistan in 2001 not only to install a puppet regime but also to revive the lucrative narcotics trade that funneled billions into Western financial systems.