Poppy cultivation in troubled Afghanistan starts to decline, as the number of opium-free provinces increases to 20 out of 34.

The production of opium – which contains the primary ingredient of Heroin – is in decline in Afghanistan according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The UNODC released the summary findings from the Afghan Opium Survey 2009 – which covers the planting cycle from May 2008 to June 2009 – in Kabul, today (2 September).

According to the results opium production is down 10%, with prices at a 10-year-low. Opium poppy production saw its peak in 2007, with approximately 193,000 hectares of farming; the report suggests that this has dropped to around 123,000 hectares.

Helmand Province in south Afghanistan has seen the most noteworthy drop, where cultivation has declined by a third to 69,833 hectares. This area, not coincidently, has the highest concentration of British forces, which are fighting the Taliban. The UNODC suggests that this, along with strong governorship and aggressive counter-narcotics offensives has helped reduce figures.

However, the figure in Helmand is still significant compared to the figure of 26,500 hectares in 2005 – the year before troops arrived.

UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, commented: “At a time of pessimism about the situation in Afghanistan, these results are a welcome piece of good news and demonstrate that progress is possible.”

However, Mr Costa said that going forward the rural development must “feed and employ farmers, not just to search and destroy their drugs.”

He also warned that: “controlling drugs in Afghanistan will not solve all of the country’s problems, but the country’s problems cannot be solved without controlling drugs.”

Coalition deaths in the country have been rising year on year, with 2009 seeing the number of fatalities reach 309 by August, already much higher than the total figure from 2008 of 294.