Afghanistan’s poppy-growing boom

Cheap solar panels are boosting the Afghan poppy crop, with cultivation close to its highest level since United Nations monitoring began in 1994


Southwestern Afghanistan
3,600 sq km of land reclaimed for cultivation from desert between 2002 and 2018

Districts controlled by Afghan government / control undetermined
Taliban control
Contested

AFGHANISTAN
Kabul
200km 125 miles


Afghan opium poppy harvest produces about 90 percent of world’s illicit heroin

How Afghan opium poppy farming has grown
Cultivation in hectares (000s)

2001: Drop due to Taliban ban before U.S.-led invasion

2017: More than fourfold increase in 15 years

8 74 328 263							
1994 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18


Solar panels allow groundwater to be pumped up to irrigate otherwise useless land


Sources: The Economist, Long War Journal, UNODC 
Picture: AP 
© GRAPHIC NEWS