1 - 5 of 5
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
2. Moving with the Times: How Opium Poppy Cultivation has Adapted to the Changing Environment in Afghanistan
- Author:
- David Mansfield and Paul Fishstein
- Publication Date:
- 06-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This “watching brief” has described a number of trends with respect to agriculture, land settlement, and opium poppy in several areas of Afghanistan. It highlights two separate but highly related issues. First, what will be farmers’ response to changes in technology and agro-economic conditions? While cost-reducing technology such as solar-powered tubewells may allow the cultivation of crops with lower returns than that of opium poppy, will farmers choose to grow these crops or will they stay with poppy? Will they even look to cultivate a second crop of opium poppy in May as some reports from the field suggest? Second, while the new technology has allowed the expansion of agricultural production to former desert areas and supported livelihoods for marginalised households, given Afghanistan’s tenuous water resources (leaving aside climate change) and population growth rate, how sustainable is an agriculture that continues to deplete groundwater resources by allowing their use on an essentially “free” basis?
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Science and Technology, Water, Drugs, and Farming
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
3. Where Have all the Flowers Gone? Assessing the Sustainability of Current Reductions in Opium Poppy Cultivation
- Author:
- David Mansfield
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Levels of opium poppy cultivation have fallen in Afghanistan for two consecutive years and it now appears that cultivation will be maintained at this relatively low level for another year. This briefing paper examines the reasons behind the reductions and assesses their sustainability, with special emphasis on the key provinces of Nangarhar and Helmand. It identifies instability and drops in livelihood standards caused by coercive reductions in opium poppy cultivation, and finds that increasing levels of wheat production do not reflect a sustainable shift from opium production, but instead are a sign of market failure, growing concerns over food security, and coercion.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Food, Rural, Drugs, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
4. Evidence from the Field: Understanding Changing Levels of Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan
- Author:
- David Mansfield and Adam Pain
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- For many rural households the cultivation of opium poppy represents the key means by which they can achieve welfare under the conditions of pervasive risk and insecurity in Afghanistan. This briefing paper argues that understanding changing levels of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan requires recognition of the multifunctional role of opium poppy cultivation in the livelihoods of rural Afghan households.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Rural, Drugs, and Farming
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East
5. Alternative Livelihoods: Substance or Slogan?
- Author:
- David Mansfield and Adam Pain
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- This briefing paper examines what is needed to effectively pursue alternative livelihoods as a goal of counter-narcotics, and argues for conventional development interventions to be viewed through a counter-narcotics lens to establish how they impact on opium poppy cultivation.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Drugs, Illegal Trade, and Farming
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Middle East