Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have begun a campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation, aiming to wipe out the country's massive production of opium and heroin.
The move comes despite farmers fearing their livelihoods will be ruined at a time of growing poverty.
Recently in the Washir district in southern Helmand province, armed Taliban fighters stood guard as a tractor tore up a field of poppies while the field's owner stood nearby.
The Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, issued an edict in early April banning poppy cultivation throughout the country.
Those violating the ban "will be arrested and tried according to Sharia laws in relevant courts," the Taliban deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, Mullah Abdul Haq Akhund, told The Associated Press.
Afghanistan is the world's biggest opium producer and a major source of heroin in Europe and Asia.
The ban will likely strike a heavy blow to millions of impoverished farmers and day labourers who rely on proceeds from the crop to survive.
It comes as Afghanistan's economy has collapsed, cut off from international funding in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
Most of the population struggles to afford food, and the country has been suffering from its worst drought in years.
Noor Mohammed, who owns one poppy field in Washir that was torn apart by Taliban tractors, said his plot of land is small and lacks water, so he can't survive by growing less profitable crops.
"If we are not allowed to cultivate this crop, we will not earn anything," he said.
Day labourers can earn upwards of $US300 ($417) a month harvesting opium from the poppies.
Villagers often rely on the promise of the upcoming poppy harvest to borrow money for staples such as flour, sugar, cooking oil and heating oil.
Mr Akhund said the Taliban were in touch with other governments and non-governmental organisations to work out alternative crops for farmers.
It is not known how many poppies were planted this season, how much was harvested and how many fields the Taliban have eradicated so far.
But Afghanistan's production has steadily risen, reaching new heights every year in recent years.
In 2021, 438,000 acres were planted with poppies, yielding enough opium to produce up to 590 tonnes of heroin, according to estimates by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The total value of Afghanistan's opiate production in 2021 was $US1.8 to $US2.7 billion, up to 14 per cent of the country's GDP, the UNODC said in its most recent report.
During their first time in power in the late 1990s, the Taliban also banned poppy cultivation and with a fierce campaign of destroying croplands nearly eradicated production within two years, according to the United Nations.
However, after the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001, many farmers returned to growing poppies.
AP/ABC
