Following the publication of the United Nations report, that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has decreased by ninety-five hundred in 2023; Experts in the agriculture sector say that the strict laws of the Islamic Emirate to prevent the cultivation of poppy, increasing the cultivation of hing, saffron and cotton in the country have caused the poppy ...

The security officials of Badakhshan say that during the last three months, they have cleared 40,000 acres of land from poppies in the center and districts of this province.

The Ministry of Interior says that in the continuation of the campaign to destroy poppy fields in the country, this time the anti-narcotics police in the provinces of Faryab, Badakhshan, Paktika, Nangarhar, Takhar, Kunar, Baghlan, Balkh and Ghor have confiscated nearly 2,200 acres of land. The poppy fields have been cleared.

In continuation of the clearing of poppy cultivation in many provinces of the country, the press office of the police commander of Laghman province says that 50 acres of land in Alishang district of this province has recently been cleared of poppy cultivation.

Following the issuance of the decree banning the cultivation of narcotic drugs by the leader of the Islamic Emirate, the Agriculture Department of Helmand province announces the increase of cotton cultivation as an alternative to poppy in the fields of this province.

Coinciding with World No Tobacco Day, Balkh security officials say efforts are underway to provide shelter and treatment for poppy fields in the province. Meanwhile, the number of drug addicts in Mazar-e-Sharif has decreased; but there is no budget for their treatment.

 The Afghan police arrested 30 drug traffickers within past seven days, authorities said on Wednesday.

 In Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province where many farmers still highly depend on poppy opium to earn a living, some farmers revive hundreds of acres of fields after long years, to harvest up cotton instead of the illicit crop.

Afghan authorities want to provide farmers with an alternative means of income, other than growing opium, by turning to the world’s most expensive spice.