A mystery disease infecting opium poppies in Afghanistan could cut this year's illicit crop in some areas by up to 70 percent, an official said Sunday. The disease has led authorities to expect a "significant" reduction in opium production this year, with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) saying this week that the output could fall by up to 25 percent.
Daud Daud, Afghanistan's deputy interior minister for counter-narcotics, said that "in some areas up to 70 percent of the crops have been destroyed" by the disease.
"We'll have a significant reduction" in the opium production "this year," Daud said, refusing to give further details, saying that an overall survey of this year's output was still under way.
Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material for making heroin, mainly in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in the south and Farah in south-west.
"Interestingly there is a natural disease that is infecting opium in five provinces," said Daud.
He could not confirm what disease had infected the crops but blamed it on an insect infestation. He said the disease was being investigated in government laboratories.
Antonio Maria Costa, the head of UNODC, has said the disease was a fungus, while some farmers have reportedly blamed the US and Britain for spraying their crops with a chemical in an effort to eradicate opium.
Daud ruled out suggestions that the crops had been sprayed with chemicals from the air.
"No no, it's not an aerial spray. It's a natural disease," he said, adding that opium poppies were the only crop to be infected.
Afghanistan's insurgency is largely funded by its opium industry, estimated to be worth 2.8 billions dollars a year. The Taliban are believed to be closely tied to drugs gangs, acting as enforcers for production and providing protection along distribution routes.
Backed by Western allies, the Afghan government has launched a massive campaign against poppy cultivation as well as traffickers.
Daud, who leads a Western-funded anti-narcotics police force, said that in the past two months his unit had seized more than 15 tons of raw opium, 1.19 tons of heroin and scores of chemical used to refine heroin.
More than 204 alleged smugglers were also arrested, some of whom had already been tried during the past two months, Daud said.
Six police officers were also killed while eradicating opium crops or fighting drug dealers this year, he said.
Nearly a million Afghans were addicted to drugs and a recent survey of the police force showed that up to 1,200 officers were also addicted, mainly to opium and heroin, he said. The police officers had been temporarily suspended from duty for treatment, he said.