Opium Trade
Kosh valley - Badakshan, Afghanistan, 1993 Opium farmers om a poppy field cut the seed pods to harvest raw opium. The white sap is gathered each morning, now all sticky and brown. Afghanistan remains today the largest producer of raw opium in the world. Thousands of tons are harvested in the remote northern mountains and southern plains. Opium is the raw material to produce heroin, one of the most deadly drugs. Afghan farmers though claim, that no other crop allows them to survive in the harsh environment of the Hindokush mountains, due to a lack of irrigation and fertilizer. Opium grows best in dry high altitude soil.
photo : Klaus Reisinger | REF. K190506174