If poppies can grow all over the world, why is it that opium production is so heavily concentrated in Afghanistan?

Question

If poppies can grow all over the world, why is it that opium production is so heavily concentrated in Afghanistan?

In: 8505

Answer 1

There are lots of great answers already. Back in the 1990s I lived in Pakistan, was friends with a guy who worked to avoid drug smuggling into the U.K., and was lucky to get a permit to travel into the tribal territories almost up to the Afghan border.

1 The opium poppy grows well in bad conditions. Better than other other cash or subsidence crops, and the Afghan climate is harsh; arid, cold winters hot summers.

2 The transport out of the area is hard, you need something high value and low weight because the infrastructure is poor and thieving and banditry high.

3 Incentives to get farmers using other crops have a high failure rate. The grants and subsidies, funds for fertilisers and modernising farming techniques get skimmed so badly that they rarely get to the farmers that need them.