Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Fungus hits Afghan opium poppies

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread		 This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News Donate to DU
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 04:07 AM
Original message
Fungus hits Afghan opium poppies
Source: BBC News

A serious disease is affecting opium poppies in Afghanistan, Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has said.

Mr Costa told the BBC that this year's opium production could be reduced by a quarter, compared with last year.

He said the disease - a fungus - is thought to have infected about half of the country's poppy crop. Afghanistan produces 92% of the world's opium.

Mr Costa said opium prices had gone up by around 50% in the region.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8679203.stm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 04:42 AM
Response to Original message
1. The perils of monoculture
Maybe they should rotate their crops more.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Wizard777 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 05:44 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. I'm thinking DEA & CIA collaboration.
The DEA has studied using fungus to eradicate drug crops. This is probably a trial run of that program.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Robb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 07:28 AM
Response to Reply #4
10. Or drought plus rain = fungus, like in 1981. nt
Edited on Thu May-13-10 07:30 AM by Robb
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 08:16 AM
Response to Reply #4
14. Could be, could be...
Edited on Thu May-13-10 08:22 AM by slackmaster


Opium poppies damping off from mildew is not unusual. I see it almost every year.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 08:46 PM
Response to Reply #14
27. I am not a cat person, but that cat does not look happy w/ the situation. nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Oregone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 10:25 AM
Response to Reply #4
19. If the CIA kills their opium, what the hell are they going to smuggle in and sell to LA?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Maat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:32 PM
Response to Reply #19
31. +1
How are they going to fund their black ops?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
conspirator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 02:45 PM
Response to Reply #4
22. No way. If anything the CIA bosses won't be happy to make less revenue this year n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
BJ10 Donating Member (75 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 05:24 AM
Response to Original message
2. I hope it kills all of it...
then they can grow Mary Jane and the world will become a safer place.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
madrchsod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 05:40 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. opium is still used in medicine
south america will pick up the slack.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Wizard777 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 05:52 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. During times of war it can become more valuable than gold.
During the civil war President Lincoln went to Mother Ann of the Shakers and made a personal plea for her to stop growing Opium Poppies to help the war effort. They were afraid the Opium Poppies would fall into the hands of the Confederacy. That would help reduce the suffering the Union was trying to inflict upon the Confederacy and prolong the war. Ironically enough Lincoln made the personal plea to Mother Ann because Congress felt that they did not have the authority to prohibit her from growing the Opium Poppies by law.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 06:10 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. Well I never - didn't know you could grow Mary Janes
Edited on Thu May-13-10 06:10 AM by dipsydoodle
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #6
21. Very attractive! That would be a great income opportunity. Wow!
Shoe trees are the future, dipsydoodle.

http://moblog.net.nyud.net:8090/media/j/u/d/judojule/shoe-tree-1.jpg
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 05:19 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. I just love the picture you posted
:hi:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Capt. America Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 06:43 AM
Response to Original message
7. Good, since apparently the US cannot destroy it while we are there. Ooops. I'm sure a lot of
people will want to flame me for saying I want to hurt the little guy by taking away his livelihood or their own recreational drug use.

1) Drugs kill people and destroy families (I know this personally)
2) The money used from the drug sales is used to buy weapons to kill soldiers and civilians.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxsolomon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #7
24. ah, but poppy is also the only cash crop many afghans have
Edited on Thu May-13-10 03:53 PM by maxsolomon
that and cannibus. they don't grow it because they use it.

if the US would openly purchase the poppy crop at HIGHER rates than the smugglers pay, then we would be much more popular there.

and it is still used as medicine worldwide.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pattmarty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 06:52 AM
Response to Original message
8. Monsanto at it again?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 07:06 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. I wondered if that might be the case.
Really odd for something like this to appear out of the blue.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pattmarty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:11 AM
Response to Reply #9
16. Yep, with the US past "record" with using agent orange type of...................
.............defoileants and such and with the military trying to cut the poppy crop in Afghanistan I would be surprised if we weren't involved in this somehow.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
junkiebrewster Donating Member (371 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 07:45 AM
Response to Original message
11. Mexico and Colombia have it covered
until Afghnistan gets back on its feet.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Possumpoint Donating Member (937 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 08:03 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. Works In Afghanistan?
Mexico and Columbia will be next.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rosa Luxemburg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 08:10 AM
Response to Original message
13. that's one way to get rid of drugs
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 08:21 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. Or it might result in a new strain of poppy that is resistant to the fungus
Edited on Thu May-13-10 08:24 AM by slackmaster
I've allowed several kinds of poppies including Afghan red opium poppies to naturalize and grow in my garden for many years. Honeybees love them.

This year I had about a dozen plants volunteer in one area where the soil is particularly good. As is often the case, a couple of them suddenly damped off and died from some kind of dark mildew that starts near the bottom of the plant and quickly kills the whole thing. The ones that didn't die are robust, and have produced many flowers this spring.

Overwatering is a factor. Too much moisture late in the season makes more plants die off.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Rosa Luxemburg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:36 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. I guess the Afghanmust have overwatered them?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Robb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:38 AM
Response to Reply #17
18. Again, two dry years plus a wet one.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Flaneur Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 12:23 PM
Response to Original message
20. Whatever the origin of the blight, the West will be blamed.
The Taliban has already been telling farmers that NATO is poisoning their crops.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Robb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #20
23. They said the same thing about Jamiat-e Islami
...the farmers aren't idiots, they've been through fungus before.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Coco2 Donating Member (52 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 06:32 PM
Response to Original message
26. I am certain our government will fund the purchase of the proper fungicide!
Nothing is too good for Afghanistan! WHy else are we spending more, and killing more than we did in Iraq? No sirree! Getting out of Afghanistan was a pipe dream(opium, as it turns out or natural gas pipe). According to my son, a SpecOpsWar team member with 2 tours in that lovely rock pile, Kharzais' whole dam extended family is involved in the opium trade.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
unkachuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:01 PM
Response to Original message
28. could monsanto....
....help?....maybe they could produce a patented GM fungus-resistant poppy that would work with their pesticides for a better crop yield....
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Canuckistanian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:10 PM
Response to Original message
29. This is one crop mankind shouldn't try to save
In fact, I hope it fails entirely like during the Irish potato famine.

Not that I'm wishing mass starvation, but the world can live without the present major produce of Afghanistan.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Maat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-13-10 09:31 PM
Response to Original message
30. Oh, dear, how is the CIA/intelligence-complex going to fund ...
their black ops?

:evilgrin:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Tue May 07th 2024, 09:38 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC