Report: Opium poppy cultivation rises to new levels in Afghanistan

 

 Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose 36% this year, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Almost 90% of opium was cultivated in nine provinces in the south and the west, which include the most insurgency-ridden provinces in the country, the report said.

The report, the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey, was released in Kabul by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"As we approach 2014 and the withdrawal of international forces from the country, the results of the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2013 should be taken for what they are - a warning, and an urgent call to action," the UNODC chief said.