Afghan farmers face a moral dilemma this year as seasonal food crops have failed, leaving only opium poppies as a source of cash—and survival for their families. Afghanistan’s interim government is working to prevent poppy cultivation, even using cash incentives and threats as encouragement for farmers to destroy the flowers, one of the few crops, which thrive in the harsh Afghan terrain.

Destroying the poppy industry in Afghanistan would eliminate more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin supply.


Nonetheless, the $500 incentive the government offers to farmers for destroying their poppy fields is a fraction of what the farmers can make selling their crop.

Legitimate agriculture is becoming less viable. For the fourth year in a row, many areas have not received enough rain. Other areas have seen plenty of rain, but farmers here have no seeds to plant. Many families faced a tough choice this winter: eat their seed supply or starve.

“Right now, we’re trying desperately to get emergency food to the remote mountain villages. If we don’t get them food now, they won’t survive until the next planting season,” said World Vision relief worker Dineen Tupa. “At that point, poppies won’t be an issue.”