(CNSNews.com) – After thirteen years of occupation by U.S. forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing opium poppies in 2014, according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Heroin is derived from the poppy.
A UNODC report—"Afghanistan Opium Survey 2014"--provides a "detailed picture of the outcome of the current year's opium season and, together with data from previous years, enable the identification of medium- and long-term trends in the evolution of the illicit drug problem."
"The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated to be 224,000 hectares in 2014, a 7% increase from the previous year," says the report.
Net opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan grew from 209,000 hectares in 2013 to 224,000 hectares in 2014.
According to the 2014 World Drug Report, also published by the UNODC, Afghanistan by far the world's largest producer of opium. "The opium production in Afghanistan accounts for 80 percent of the global opium production (5,500 tons)," said that report.
Hilmand province was Afghanistan's largest opium cultivator in 2014, producing 103,240 hectares.
"In 2014, 98% of total opium cultivation in Afghanistan took place in the Southern, Eastern and Western regions of the country," explains the report.
Most of the U.S. casualties in Afghan War have occurred in the Hilmand and Kandahar provinces, which are also the two leading opium-growing provinces.
"There is evidence that Afghan heroin is increasingly reaching new markets, such as Oceania and Southeast Asia, that had been traditionally supplied from Southeast Asia," the report states.