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The theme ofWorld Drug Day 2023is “Folks first: cease stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention.“ To commemorate the day, UNODC is highlighting its work on drug prevention – together with various improvement initiatives – and therapy around the globe.
Mohammad Iqbal, a farmer within the Gushta district of Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, walks by means of the footpaths separating his orchard. “This was barren land 4 years in the past,” he says, gesturing to the flowering bushes. “Now, it’s lined with colourful citrus bushes.”
Nangarhar, the province the place Mohammad’s orchard is situated, is legendary in Afghanistan for its semi-tropical local weather. Its soil is especially conducive to rising citrus, notably candy orange.
Up to now, predominantly small citrus growers used conventional orchard methods to handle their citrus farms. However a long time of battle, coupled with a number of consecutive droughts, have made it troublesome to entry enough irrigation water for his or her farms. With continued instability in temperatures – in addition to the frequency and severity of droughts and floods – many had been unable to keep up manufacturing utilizing these conventional strategies, jeopardizing their meals safety and livelihoods.
Many citrus farmers due to this fact switched to poppy cultivation, serving to Nangahar to stay one of many highest poppy producing provinces in japanese Afghanistan.
Poppy crops produce opium, and based on the United Nations Workplace on Medication and Crime’s (UNODC), Afghanistan provides 80 per cent of the worldwide provide of the drug.
In 2020, UNODC launched an Various Improvement programme in search of to enhance water effectivity to make it simpler for farmers to develop authorized crops. Various improvement initiatives search to offer sustainable livelihoods to communities that domesticate illicit drug crops as a result of they’re unable to acquire enough earnings from authorized actions resulting from battle or lack of markets, primary infrastructure, or land.
Assist was offered to rehabilitate the citrus orchards of 500 farmers who had turned to poppy cultivation. Every farmer was supplied with solar energy programs, drip irrigation supplies, coaching, and Built-in Pest Administration (IPM) kits with the intention to address the unfavourable results of local weather change.
Drip irrigation programs are properly suited to areas affected by drought, as they permit farmers to feed their crops whereas conserving as much as 70 per cent of water.
Mohammad’s farm, with no entry to irrigation water, had grow to be barren earlier than he entered the programme. Outfitted with a brand new drip irrigation system for 2 hectares of his lemon orchard, the previously ineffective land started supplying fruit. In 2022, Mohammad harvested 115.5 tons of lemon, value roughly AFN 3,300,000 (US$ 37,930).
Emboldened by Mohammad’s success, a number of different farmers joined the programme and put in drip irrigation programs. “These bushes not solely carry fruit to our village,” mentioned Mohammad proudly, “however magnificence, too.”
To be taught extra about UNODC’s Various Improvement programmes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, click on right here.
Supply: UNODC
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