15:30/31:03:2010

The worlds biggest opium producer, Afghanistan has earned also earned the dubious distinction of emerging as a major source of cannabis, the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime.

The UNODC Executive director said: while other countries have even larger cannabis cultivation the astonishing yield of the Afghan cannabis crop makes Afghanistan the world's biggest producer of hashish.

Afghan Farmers produce 145 kilograms per hectare of hashish. The resin produced from cannabis as compared to around 40 kilograms hashish in Morocco for an overall amount of 1.500 to 3.500 tonnes a year according to an unodc survey.

Antonio Maria Costa: in a statement released in Vienna on Wednesday, said the area of cannabis cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated using converging methodologies at between 10.000 to 24.000 hectares.

Importantly cannabis cultivation like opium is also concentrated in the volatile southern region of the country. Indeed two thirds (67%) of cannabis farmers also grew opium in 2009.

Costa observed: Afghanistan is drug problem is even more complex than just the opium trade yet the remedy remains the same. By improving governance and development in Afghanistan 's drug producing regions we can knock out the worlds biggest supplies of both hashish and heroin.