(AKI) - Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has fallen by almost 20 percent this year, according to a report by the United Nations anti-drug agency. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said the fall was due to good local leadership coupled with bad weather.The office's Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008 showed a 19 per cent decrease in opium cultivation to 157,000 hectares, down from a record harvest of 193,000 in 2007. "Last year the world got hit by a heroin tsunami, almost 700 tonnes," said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. "This year the opium flood waters have started to recede."
The survey also found that 18 of the country's 34 provinces are now opium-free -- up from 13 last year. In addition, cultivation now takes place "almost exclusively" in provinces affected by insurgency. Some 98 per cent of Afghanistan's opium is grown in seven provinces in the southwest of the country -- Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Farah, Nimroz, Daykundi and Zabul.