KABUL, Afghanistan – The United Nations is predicting a strong increase in poppy cultivation in north and northeastern parts of Afghanistan where insurgents have stepped up attacks after being heavily pressured in their southern strongholds by Afghan and coalition forces.
Overall, however, the U.N. predicted on Monday that poppy cultivation across Afghanistan would drop slightly this year because less of the crop, which is used to make opium, is being planted in the south.
Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the top official for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, says soaring opium prices is the driving force behind the planting of poppy this year. He says the price of dry opium increased 306 percent between February 2010 and February of this year.
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