Poppy fields destroyed in Balkh

Farmers in the Nahr-e-Shahi district of the northern province of Balkh destroyed 55 acres of opium poppies, officials said on December 7. Nahr-e-Shahi district’s administrative chief Mohammad Ibrahim said nearly 3,000 acres of lands had been cultivated with poppies in Nahr-e-Shahi district this year. He added that 80 per cent of the crop area had been destroyed by the farmers themselves, and that the process was continuing. According to another report, 326 acres under poppies have been destroyed by farmers in the Char Bolak district of Balkh over the past 10 days.