Since the fall of the Taliban the United Kingdom has been responsible for creating and implementing a coherent and effective poppy eradication plan for Afghanistan. To date, this Government has failed.
Even though the amount of poppy eradicated in Afghanistan during 2007 increased by 24 per cent from 2006, net opium poppy production across Afghanistan increased to 193,000 ha in 2007 equating to a 17 per cent increase from 2006. In Helmand province alone, net opium poppy production in 2007 reached a record high of 102,770 ha. This was an increase of 48 per cent from 2006. Clearly we are not moving in the right direction.
However, figures recently released by the Government show that when the United Kingdom is compared with the 34 provinces in Afghanistan the UK ranks an astonishing 11th place in the amount of opium poppy production in 2007.
Figures released by the U.S. State Department show that in 2007 the UK grew more opium poppy than Pakistan.
Not only are we failing to eradicate it, we are growing it at home when we could be buying it from farmers in Afghanistan before it ends up on the black market. The Government tells us that they have to grow poppy in the UK as part of a strategic reserve. I find this ironic considering that the UK is supposed to have the strategic and tactical control of one of the biggest poppy producing places in the world: Helmand Province!
