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Afghanistan: Farming

I thank the Government for allowing time for me to raise this very important Question, which impacts not only on DfID but also on the Ministry of Defence, as peace in Helmand would have a profound effect on the morale of our soldiers out there. I declare an interest as patron of the mother and child clinic in the Panjshir Valley. With the problems created in Afghanistan due to the war over the past three or four decades, there exists, especially within the UK, a keen interest to help the people of Afghanistan to better their lives and develop a strong and stable nation. One of the steps to creating economic strengths and stability within Afghanistan is through agriculture, and one of the successful substitutes for growing opium poppies is the cultivation of pomegranates. In 2007, Afghanistan produced 95 per cent of the world’s refined opiates, with a street value of some $38 billion. On average, 90 per cent of the heroin in the UK stems from Afghanistan. The cost to the UK alone of the heroin problem is £16.4 billion per annum. Furthermore, opium cultivation now takes place almost exclusively in provinces most affected by insurgency, with Helmand being the most profitable. Therefore, a substitution would also seriously damage Taliban financing. The UNODC said: ""There is now a perfect overlap between zones of high risk and regions of high opium cultivation. Since drugs are funding insurgency, and insurgency enables drug cultivation, insurgency and narcotics must be fought together"." The Taliban is thought to have earned as much as $100 million from this trade. Since the Russian invasion of 1979, agriculture has received new impetus, and lately Afghanistan has become poised to become a major exporter of pomegranates, a traditional crop for centuries. Foundations such as POM354 are already in place, trying to persuade more farmers and tribal elders to make this transition from the growth of opium poppies to pomegranates and to help meet the need of farmers. DfID recently launched its country plan for the next four years for Afghanistan. This plan sets out the framework for Britain’s aid to Afghanistan, with a pledge of more than £127 million per year between now and 2013. This is worth £30 million a year being used to help farmers move away from opium cultivation. As a result, other nations are beginning to take interest, such as the US, Canada and the Netherlands. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office acknowledges that eliminating the opium poppy without developing viable legal livelihoods is not sustainable, and it is therefore suggested that the focus should be on substitution, mainly by pomegranates. The case for replacing opium poppies is clear, but why with pomegranates? Afghanistan is known to have the best pomegranates in the world. Kandahar in the south produces perhaps the world’s best. The Afghan Government are currently implementing a $12 million US-funded initiative intended to modernise and expand the country’s pomegranate industry. However, many farmers still need to be persuaded to make the transition from poppies to pomegranates. Fourteen of the 34 provinces are poppy-free and I hope that more will follow that trend. The key organisation doing this is POM354, which was founded in Britain by James Brett. Its concept is simple, and as a result, has led to its huge popularity within Afghanistan and the rest of the world. In a short space of time, POM354 has managed to establish substantial consensus within the Government and among farmers. In November 2008, 22,000 farmers signed up to the POM354 scheme and, as a result, in March 2009, 40,000 pomegranate trees were planted. Furthermore, as a result of aid and work by foundations such as POM354, Afghanistan as a whole saw a 6 per cent decrease in opium production between 2007 and 2009. The goal now is for POM354 to obtain further financial support from organisations in donor countries. It is generally accepted that there is only a short window to alter Afghanistan’s agriculture in favour of pomegranates. Without outside aid, the project would not be able to become operational, as the farmers need to be sustained during the three-year period of conversion—the time between the saplings being planted and becoming fruitful. POM354’s target is over the next 10 to 15 years to develop 175,000 hectares of mature pomegranate orchards generating a substantial income. Through its various schemes, farmers will create their own infrastructure to facilitate this new agricultural development and, in the process, generate greater revenue per hectare than the poppy. Will the Government continue to support alternative viable crops? As a result, the heroin supply would drastically fall and the Afghan people would have a development programme prosperous enough to resist the Taliban and, in doing so, create worthwhile livelihoods and a greater chance of peace in the area.