A United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report about opium production in Afghanistan shows a dramatic rise in opium cultivation between 2003 and 2004. The report states, “…opium cultivation has spread to all of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces, making narcotics the main engine of economic growth and the strongest bond among previously quarrelsome peoples. Valued at US$2.8 billion, the opium economy is now equivalent to over 60 per cent of Afghanistan’s 2003 GDP.” Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of UNODC, has said, “With 131,000 hectares dedicated to opium farming, this year Afghanistan has established a double record -- the highest drug cultivation in the country’s history, and the largest in the world.” Although farmers can reap a tenfold higher profit for growing opium than for other crops, bad weather and disease lowered the 2004 opium yield per hectare by almost 30 per cent, resulting in a total output (4,200 tons) that exceeds last year’s by only 17 per cent. According to the 2004 UNODC Survey, “…nature-related productivity decline capped Afghanistan’s 2004 opium production at an amount still lower than the Taliban’s 1999 peak of 4,600 tons. ” The report found that the price per kilogram of opium dropped over 60 percent from last year's level. Read More | Indybay Story from 10/2004 about Opium Production and its effects on the political climate of Afghanistan

CIA Report "From Flowers to Heroin" | ONDCP Fact Sheet: Breaking Heroin Sources of Supply