J&K apple growers seek industry status Monday, September 24,2007 The Pioneer [1]

SRINAGAR: Orchards in Kashmir Valley - once known as the fruit bowl of India - are full of fragrant apples but growers fear another disastrous year of business in the wake of what many say is Government apathy. Farmers across the Valley, currently busy harvesting the fruit to be shipped to markets outside the state, accuse the Government of not doing enough to safeguard the declining horticulture sector.

"Kashmir fruit business, despite being one of the prime revenue earners, has never got the desired attention from the government," Abdur Rasheed, a fruit grower in Shopian, about 50 km from Srinagar, complained.

Like Rasheed, most of the fruit farmers complain of the Government's alleged failure to accord industry status to the fruit business.

"By granting the status of an industry to the fruit business, we could be entitled to financial and other subsidy benefits," Rasheed said.

Over three million people are directly or indirectly associated with this trade that is currently estimated at Rs 20 billion, said Mubeen Shah, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), who wants the Government to take extra measures to save the industry from further deterioration.

According to the State's Horticulture Department, around 15 lakh tonnes of apples are produced in Kashmir annually. However, the Valley's fruit business, which is facing stiff competition from Shimla apples and other imported fruits, is declining in infrastructure as well as in investment. Orchards are being converted into residential plots, as the trade is not yielding enough.

"After suffering continuous crop failures for the past many years, I had no option but to sell a portion of my orchard to a city-based businessman who has started construction on it," said Majeed Mir of Shalimar, who once had about 10 acres of orchards in the Telbal area, which is 26 km northeast of Srinagar.

According to estimates, over 500,000 tonnes of apple are ruined every year in the valley. There are many reasons for this. Diseases like scab infection, alternaria, red-might and powdery mildew are spoiling the crop. Farmers allege that spurious fungicides, pesticides and fertiliser are being supplied to them at exorbitant rates.

Even if the production is up to the mark, there are no cold storage facilities to preserve the fruit in case of shipping delays, says Manzoor Ahmed, a research scholar at an agricultural university here. On an average a truck takes 36 hours to reach New Delhi and much longer if it is headed towards other markets.

Further more, the absence of proper marketing strategies. However, the Government says adequate steps are being taken to save the worsening fruit industry

"We have ordered implementation of a market intervention scheme to ensure standard packaging and grading of fruits," Horticulture Minister Mohammad Dilawar Mir said.

"This is necessary to withstand the stiff competition in the liberal trade regime as sale of mixed grades of fruit is bringing a bad name to the world-famous fruit industry of Kashmir," Mir said. "If we want to compete, we have to improve the quality." Bhat substantiates his claims, saying: "Kashmiri apples are juicier and appealing in colour. Known for their special taste, apples grown here are high in demand in the markets across India."

The different varieties of apples grown here include Hazratbali, Delicious, Royal Delicious, American and Maharaja. Experts also feel that scab resistant variety of apples would help in business revival.

Flour crisis: Bigwigs swindle Rs 6bn Monday, September 24,2007 THE NEWS [2]

ISLAMABAD: Towering political figures, both on the treasury and the opposition benches, have been found involved in the ongoing wheat and flour crisis, having managed to swindle around over Rs 6 billion by hoarding and then smuggling the commodity to the neighboring countries, top official sources in the finance ministry told The News.

"This year the country had received a bumper wheat crop of 23.5 million tonnes. But the citizens of Pakistan are still going through an ordeal during the holy month of Ramazan. They have to run from pillar to post to get this essential staple food item. This commodity has just disappeared and if at all it is available, it is at an exorbitantly high price," the sources told The News.

"This time influential growers and floor millers, who are also big political figures, hoarded about 1-2 million tonnes of wheat. This should be very alarming for the incumbent regime that will face the music on this account in the forthcoming elections," the sources said.

"Although, there is some relief in the prices in the wake of some belated measures taken by the government but it is feared that the measures might be short-lived, as the smuggling of wheat and flour still continues unabated," the sources added.

Commenting on the decision to import 1 million tonnes of wheat and fast releases of wheat from the government stocks to flour mills that have helped to provide some relief to end-consumers in prices, the sources warned the question remains as to whether the government would import one million tonnes of wheat or even less, as a strong lobby in the cabinet might dictate the decision.

The sources said that the opposition parties had more or less also joined the government's ‘unscrupulous figures' in this loot as they had not come out with any protest worth the name against the crisis. Rather, political parties have left the masses in the lurch to bear the bite of inflation.

The sources said that on this occasion, rice millers also came out and went for massive wheat buying after earning lot of money because of the huge profits from the sale of rice at very high rates. They hoarded wheat and with the connivance of ministers, both in the federal and provincial governments, they managed to smuggle the commodity, as the said ministers are also landlords, big growers and also possess flour and rice mills.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government has decided not to constitute a commission to launch a probe into the wheat scam, as major chunk of ministers and politicians with agriculture background are not in favour of such a move and these are the very elements that barred the government from imposing 30 to 35 percent regulatory duty on the export of flour to Afghanistan.

Despite the clear-cut direction of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the smuggling of flour and wheat goes on unchecked. The growers who possess flourmills in Sukkur, Hyderabad and Mirpur Khas in Sindh have successfully managed to smuggle wheat and flour to India.

Iran's market is also flooded with Pakistan's wheat as Tehran is busy in massive buying of wheat as it wants to build its food stock in the wake of the US threat of attack, a development also confirmed by a senior official.

This is first time in the last 15 years that Pakistan's wheat has also been seen in the market of Uzbekistan.

Sources said that the official export of flour to Afghanistan amounts to $38 million, but massive smuggling is still going on with the help of Rangers and Customs officials are making money out of it. Trucks carrying wheat and flour can been seen right now at Torkham post.

The NWFP and Balochistan governments have also helped smuggle out 5 million tonnes of wheat that could cater to the needs of Taliban fighting against the Karzai government, said the sources.

The commission (illegal gratification) charged by Rangers and Customs officials who facilitate the illegal outbound movement of the commodity has increased manifold per truck. Before the new directives of Prime Minister on launching crackdowns on hoarders and increasing vigilance on borders, Rangers were receiving around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per truck as commission but now they have increased their commission to Rs 40,000 per truck, as the profit margin in selling wheat and flour in international market is 100 percent high. One truck carries 35 tonnes of wheat or flour.

APP adds: Agriculture Development Commissioner (ADC) in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) Dr Qadir Bux Baloch on Saturday said that there was no wheat crisis in the country adding that one million tonnes of wheat would be imported to fulfill the local needs.

He conceded that wheat had been smuggled out of the country because of high price across the border. He said Iran was the main destination as it was amassing stocks in view of the US threat of attack.

Tea promotion through Overseas missions Monday, September 24,2007 Daily News [3]

COLOMBO: The Plantation Industries Ministry will launch a programme to promote Sri Lankan tea in foreign countries through our overseas missions, said Plantation Industries Minister DM Jayaratne. The Minister was speaking at a meeting held to formulate strategies for the promotion of Lankan tea in foreign countries at the Ministry.

The Government expects to augment the tea export earnings from Rs. 91.5 billion to Rs. 125 billion within three years.

The officials in Lankan missions overseas will receive comprehensive training in promoting and explorating new market avenues for our tea, the Minister said.

Under this programme, an embassy official should send an extensive report on the demand for Sri Lankan tea and new strategies that could be employed for the promotion of tea in particular country every three months to the foreign minister and the plantation minister.

We have to seek new market opportunities in countries to which our tea is not being exported. Sri Lanka should identify the tea market variations in the Middle East and European countries and endeavour to increase our tea export earnings on which over 1.5 million employees are dependent.

Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lalith Hettiarachi, said "China is among the top of our emerging markets. Their demand for beverages is higher with the growth of their per capita income."

Managing Director of HVA Lanka Exports Limited Rohan Fernando, Sri Lanka Tea Exporters Association Vice President Deepal Chandrasekera, Ministry Secretary J. Abeywickrema, Board Director General W. Hemaratne and Ministry Additional Secretary Y Wijeratne also participated.

CIC introduces Rice Crackers Monday, September 24,2007 Daily Mirror [4]

COLOMBO: The latest nutritious supplement to enter the market is a product of CIC and the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) called Rice Crackers made purely from rice and vegetable oil in chocolate and chicken savoury flavours. "CIC Agribusiness came forward in helping us promote this rice product", Dr. A. M. Mubarak said at the launch. The year 2004 was declared as the international day of rice, and in Asia alone there is more than a 2 billion intake 60 to 70 percent of rice. Japan's germinated rice is becoming increasingly popular amongst the people as it reduces the risk of heart attacks and certain cancers and prevents Alzheimer as well.

"There is a problem of storage and if we go back in history we set up the paddy marketing board but that's not the answer we have now", CIC Agribusinesses on Marketing Potential for Rice based products in Sri Lanka Chairman B. R. L. Fernando stated. He also added the fact that they have found a solution to it by installing the state of the art Mill and now we are moving in the direction of adding value to products.

Speaking further B. R. L. Fernando said "when the rice paddy was started the seed paddy that was used was 5% and it took 20 years for the seed to turnover. After we took over the farmland the production of the farmland turned out to be good and in the past only 600 acres was used, but we are now using 1,200 acres of land at present while the cycle of seed turnover has been brought down from 20 years to 5 years.

"This is a very good project. CARE international introduced a biscuit that was like a bun that could be mixed with milk and fed to babies", Minister of Agriculture Development Hemakumara Nanayakkara stated. "The value of rice is recognised by our people and internationally as well as it affects the growth of human beings. In Sri Lanka we call rice the Buddha Bogya and is a favoured crop in Sri Lanka. We have given Rs.350 worth of fertilisers to the farmers under special consideration. Changing food habit is the most difficult thing in the world for any human being and I'm 100% for increasing the per capita for rice."

"We are now planning to negotiate with the LTTE to bring an understandable solution to this ongoing war that is killing many innocent lives," Nanayakkara further added. "As a director of my company I would like to see a favourable balance in my company's turnouts but as a politician I can't look at the problems in the same manner. The government is dedicated in protecting the private sector and there are many requests coming from the private sector.

The government should not be blamed for everything, as the cost is enormous on the war and each time we try to get funds an irresponsible leader from the opposition side keeps blocking us with in a patriotic manner." Technology for the preparation of Rice Crackers was transferred to CIC Ltd by the Food Technology Section of ITI and it was made possible after ITI made a presentation on opportunities for Rice based products to the management of CIC ltd.

CIC submitted these samples of rice crackers in two flavours imported from Thailand to ITI and requested to initiate the same.

The food technology section carried out the development work and after the submission of samples to CIC, rice crackers with two flavours were selected, one was savoury chicken flavour and the other chocolate flavour. Rice cracker is a flat snack with puffed rice grains attached to each other Research and Development work done at ITI showed that for this type of cracker a special rice variety with low amylase content was necessary and this was supplied by CIC ltd from their special rice varieties.

Since CIC ltd does not have processing facilities, ITI arranged a subcontractor to prepare it at ITI using their facilities and supervision. Rice crackers were prepared with 200kilos of rice and packed and issued to CIC ltd for a test market trial at their outlets.

Delivery of Mustang apples resumes Monday, September 24,2007 THE KATHMANDU POST [5]

BENI: After a couple of weeks of disruption in delivery, the popular Apple from the western Himalayan district of Mustang, is back in the markets following the end of the Baglung-Beni-Jomsom road construction.

The delivery was disrupted after the 2-km stretch of the Gharkhola - Tatopani section of the road was closed due to blasting carried out to construct the road. As a result a large quantity of the Mustang Apple ran the risk of going to waste during its peak season. The delivery of carrots produced in the region was also affected.

Nepali Army officials involved in the road construction stated that the rock blasting will be resumed once an alternative trail is completed for trekking and delivery of goods. As it was the peak time to deliver apples, carrots and Himalayan goats for the Dashain festival to different parts of the country, the army halted the blasting and other construction activities and allowed movement through the road at the request of local businessmen.

Farmers and mule owners have been vehemently protesting the blasting and construction as it was disrupting the smooth delivery of local products exactly when the demand was highest.

"Delivery of apple and carrot began this week following an agreement between the local mule owners and the army," Krishna Rayamajhi, site in-charge of RNA.

According to Karna Bahadur Tamang, a contractor for the delivery of apple, villages like Sauru, Kowang, Tukche, Marpha, Jomsom, Kagbeni, Pakling and Lupra are major pocket areas for apple production. Local farmers are selling apples from Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg, depending on variety and taste.

Farmers are paying Rs 13 to Rs 22 per kg for the transportation of their products for the delivery of which some 300 mules are engaged daily. Mule is the only means of transporting goods to other districts from the Himalayan district.

Carrot is the second biggest product of Mustang after apple. Chimang village of the district is the most popular for carrot farming.

According to Urja Tamang, a carrot trader, nearly 3000 tons of carrots are delivered to Beni of Myagdi, Pokhara, Kathmandu and Narayanghat every year.

Rice crop estimates not released yet Tuesday, September 25,2007 THE NATION [6]

KARACHI - The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has urged the Rice Commissioner (RC) of Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) to immediately release crop estimates of 2007-08 crops of Basmati and non-Basmati rice of all the four provinces.

It is almost end of September but the RC Minfal has not released the production figures of the different varieties of rice of all the four provinces, said Unisame president in his statement issued here on Monday. He said that the new crop is expected after Ramadhan and although there are very few arrivals of Irri 6 currently it is likely to pick up after Eid holidays from different areas of Sindh. Likewise he said that 386 an unrecognised variety of Punjab has started coming but will gather momentum in October end, he added.

He said that Punjab has grown substantial quantities of Super Basmati and 386 but there are no signs of 385 and Irri 9 and exporters will have to depend on Aromatic Sindhi Basmati and Irri 9 to meet their commitments.He said it is unfortunate that Minfal does not strive for a balanced cultivation area wise and induce the farmers to grow PK-385 and Irri 9 both very popular varieties of Punjab and known all over the world for its quality and cooking ability.

Unisame expert Kanyalal said that due to the expected demand of overseas and domestic buyers the prices are likely to remain stable and it is foreseen that due to increase in price of wheat and exhaustion of old crop of rice there is going to be constant demand on rice but because of the good production although unbalanced it is expected that the prices will maintain stability.

Unisame experts advised Minfal to comprehend the fact that there is need for a rice policy and Minfal should examine the production figures viz a viz the domestic consumption and exports.

They warned the government that if smuggling to Iran, Afghanistan is not checked we will end up importing rice and stringent measures must be taken to check smuggling right from the beginning of new arrivals.

The rice exporters have urged the government to do away with the Quality Review Committee (QRC) which carries out pre-shipment inspection (PSI) of all Basmati rice as QRC is under severe criticism from foreign buyers who need third party PSI besides QRC is not registered with the Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) as a PSI agency.

The rice farmers have urged the government to ensure supplies of good quality seeds, pesticides and fumigation materials to harvest a successful crop.

The rice processors have urged the government to allow import of quality packing material on 0% duty to enable the SMEs in value addition by doing consumer packing of world standard. They also demanded import of rice machinery on 0% duty and exemption of sales tax as well. Since rice is a cash crop they have suggested to the Finance Ministry to reduce the with holding tax on export of rice to 0.5% only as rice is a volume business and exporters hardly earn around 2pc.

The stakeholders are of the opinion that if the government takes serious interest in rice exports which is a major foreign exchange earner the business can flourish to achieve new heights.

Trade aids barter of culture with Bhutan Tuesday, September 25,2007 TELEGRAPH [7]

CHIRANG: Every Thursday, Lahati Narzary sets off early to Hatisar and begins arranging the vegetable stack in his makeshift shack. After all, once the border gate opens, there will be little time to set the shop right. Shopping for daily commodities in a neighbouring country may not sound like the most convenient option, but for residents of the little Bhutan town of Gelephu, the weekly market across the border at Hatisar is a godsend.

Row after row of makeshift shops selling every conceivable fruit, vegetable and meat materialise along the border on Thursdays, as do hundreds of people haggling in scraps of Bhutanese and Assamese.

"They (the Bhutanese) are our main customers. They come down every Thursday to buy their week's grocery and vegetables," said Lahati, a resident of Kumguri village.

And nobody is complaining, least of all the traders.

"Little development and few opportunities make life is really difficult on the Indian side of the border but the weekly market and the steady flow of customers from Gelephu has infused new life into this part of the district. Business is flourishing like never before. Almost 90 per cent of the customers at the Thursday weekly market are from Bhutan," said R. Basumatary, a social worker.

But business was not always as flourishing.

Operation All Clear in December 2003 to flush out Northeast militants from Bhutan forced the closure of the border gate for a while.

The gate was closed for a second time following a grenade blast in Gelephu the following year.

It was reopened after a meeting between leaders from both sides of the border. The Indo-Bhutan Friendship Association, of course, played a crucial role in the development.

The friendship has been beneficial and the state government is only too eager to sustain it.

"Hatisar-Datgiri is fast developing into a trade centre for the people of the two countries," said panchayat and rural development and transport minister Chandan Brahma, who was elected from this constituency. "We now need to sustain the development and continue the harmonious trade."

India's ambassador to Bhutan, Sudhir Vyas, who visited the border area in November last year, stressed on "movement of people" to maintain the camaraderie.

If trade is flourishing, can barter of culture be far behind?

Sugar wholesale market rate static Wednesday, September 26,2007 THE NATION [8]

LAHORE - The sugar market remained static making no upward shift despite the fact that the imported sugar was literally neutralized in the last few days. Despite the fact their was no input of imported Indian sugar into the wholesale market, the market prices remained at the manageable levels of Rs 2,775 ex-mill and the wholesale price of Rs 2,830 per 100 kg.

Market sources when asked about the somewhat static market argued that with barely one month to go for the sugar mills to offload their stock and get ready for new boiler operations, any price hike was for the time being not on the cards as the demand and supply balance was more or less within limits.

It may be mentioned here that after the July 31 Pakistan Sugar Mills Association report that there are reserves of 1.62 million tons with the mills, the importers undertook L/C for the import of sugar at comparatively lower rates from the Indian sugar mills infrastructure.

As the result about 5800 ton of sugar was booked by different parties for import at the rate of Rs 24/25 per kg from the Indian sources. The importers though cornered by the PSMA when asked about the desired amount of imported sugar to forestall any chances of price hike argued that about 58000 ton is needed for the market.

Rana Ayub one of the importers whose consignments has been subject to a series of tests since its arrival a month ago said that " Pakistani market needs at least 58 to 60 thousand tons of sugar to stabilize the market', arguing that the sugar ‘price could have crossed the Rs 32 per kg mark, if the sugar import psychological impact on the market was not there'.

The current sugar market scenario however would still take a turn in the month of November, when in the case of delayed crushing season, as it always happens coupled with fast depleting sugar stocks, there can be a repeat of the of the December 2005 crisis, when the delayed crushing coupled with non availability of sugar caused the prices to skyrocket, to be arrested for the time being at Rs 30 per kg regime.

Seed shortage may hit wheat sowing Wednesday, September 26,2007 THE NATION [9]

LAHORE: There is a fear that the next wheat sowing in the country would be affected due to shortage of certified seed as most of the seed has been sold to the flourmills, said Agri Forum Pakistan Chairman Ibrahim Mughal on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a Symposium organized by Punjab Seed Corporation at Hamdard Centre here Tuesday. He talked at length about the current state of affairs in the context of wheat sowing in the few months time.

Ibrahim Mughal in his deliberations said that last year the certified seed for cotton only accounted for 18 per cent of the wheat seed. He said with uncertified seed a good production level was not to be expected. He said that it was fool hardy attitude to expect good yield out of uncertified seed. He lamented the fact that after 1991 the year when the Inqilab 91 was introduced, it was not followed by any alternate variety of wheat seed. The said that despite the fact that the government was alerted on that count, the certified seed sowing dropped even further in the last wheat sowing season.

He also pointed out to the fact that the same situation was being faced by cotton. Last year the 38000 ton seed was available now less than that. He said that CM has been intimated that the flour companies are even converting the wheat meant for seed was being sold at high rates. He also criticized P&D for making ways to dissolve the Punjab Seed Corporation. He also pointed out to the same situation in the domain of rice, where somewhat same strategy was followed. He suggested that the district administration and farmers should be mobilized to supply the seed for next wheat crop in time, otherwise food security would be at stake, he argued.

He said that MNC were only in the field to accrue 200 per cent plus profit. He said that PSC was for the food security, however few ministers and the P&D were bent upon privatizing the corporation. He asked the media to spoil the P&D plans. He said that through the media campaign the CM can be alerted. He also took exception to the non availability of DAP and said that the profit was being netted by the fertilizer companies. He appealed that the Inqilab 91 should not be closed. He also pointed out to what he called the dangerous trend of importing ‘every thing from Wagha border'.

Brigadier (Retd) Iftikhar Ahmad in his deliberations as the chief guest said that the main aim of the symposium was to identify the best variety for wheat.

He lamented the fact that the seed mafia was making the most of the situation. He said that Punjab Seed Corporation would stand by the farmers so that Pakistan retains its place in the agricultural produce in the international market. He expressed fear that with the seed meant for sowing has been changed into flour the situation was alarming, he noted.

Ch Sultan Ali, former agriculture minister said that the Seed Corporation has been in the fore front of providing the requisite information to the farmer. He said that two mafia were developing. He pointed out to the fact that those into hybrid seed development were even claiming basmati registration in the international market. Others who spoke on the occasion included Mohammad Idrees from FAP, Amin Chatta from Aiwan Zarat and Mehboob Kichi from Multan.

Tea production low this year Wednesday, September 26,2007 Lanka Business [10]

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's tea production for August was higher than the same month last year but the island is still to fully recover from the disruption in harvesting caused by a strike and bad weather, officials said. The total production for August rose 11 percent to 24.2 million kg compared with 21.8 million kg in August 2006, with the increase coming from all three elevations.

"But for the year so far we're still well behind last year," said Anil Cooke, senior vice president of Asia Siyaka Commodities tea brokers.

Total production in the January - August 2007 period was 194.07 million kg compared with 210.09 million kg in the same 2006 period.

Tea production is 16 million kg or 7.6 percent behind last year's output with the shortfall apparent in all three elevations - high, medium and low.

Despite the increased production indicated in the statistics for August, brokers said the island's output by year's end was unlikely to reach the production achieved for the whole of last year.

Production was disrupted late last year when labour unions struck work to back demands for higher pay.

The strike was followed by drought that further delayed the recovery in production.

Recent rains have also disrupted cropping.

"We'll have a spurt of production in the last two months of the year but it's very unlikely that we would be able to bridge the gap significantly," said Cooke.

"We need a period of extended sunshine in October for the crop to come up. Excess rain is the main problem now."

Plans to boost coconut cultivation Wednesday, September 26,2007 Morning Leader [11]

COLOMBO: The Plantation Industries Ministry hopes to uplift the coconut industry by encouraging people to engage in coconut cultivation. Plantation Industries Minister D. M. Jayaratne's aim is to distribute 20 million coconut plants to the public within the next three years. He said Rs. 20 million worth of plants would be distributed to the public by the Agriculture Department within three years.

"At present around 365 lakhs of coconuts are produced in the country which is enough for the consumption of the people. However due to the destroying of coconut plantations, the country will face a severe coconut shortage and will have to import coconuts in the near future," Jayaratne said.

To prevent a coconut shortage in the country and to create a programme where coconut can be exported in the near future, a new Coconut Research Institute was opened recently in Kurunegala.

"We hope to increase the revenue of Rs. 19 billion from coconut cultivation to Rs. 50 billion within three years. The new Coconut Research Institute will hold awareness programmes on the importance of coconut cultivation. Each family will be given five coconut plants as the first phase of the programme. If our programme is successful we should be able to export around 100 million coconuts after three years," Jayaratne explained.

The Minister added that the price of a coconut would come down and the increased coconut cultivation would provide jobs to over 15 lakhs of people.

Mairjuana emerging as alternative crop Friday, September 28,2007 ABC [12]

KABUL: As Afghanistan struggles to cut its raging opium production, aid workers try to find alternative crops, but for some former poppy farmers the choice was easy -- they planted marijuana instead. Afghanistan's opium crop topped all records this year, producing some 93 percent of the world's supply of the drug.

But while there has been a sharp rise in poppy production in the troubled south, the drug crop has been eliminated in a growing number of provinces in the safer north of the country.

Balkh province in the north was trumpeted as a success story -- from 7,000 hectares of poppies cultivated in 2006, it was declared opium-free in 2007 after strong local government action.

But around the ancient citadel of Balkh, in fields where pink poppy flowers stood last year, jagged green marijuana stalks poke above other crops and in places whole cannabis fields produce a pungent aroma strong enough to be picked by passing motorists.

The farmers are still cautious. "They are not my fields," said Shamseddin, surrounded by head-high cannabis plants in full flower. "I don't know who they belong to," he said, dropping a sickle to the ground and nudging it away with his foot.

Others said they only planted marijuana to shield their cotton fields from livestock or that it was just a trial crop.

"The landlords used to plant poppy, but then the government came along and destroyed the crops," said farm worker Mohammad Yassin. "This year we planted marijuana, the dealers will come and buy the crop from us, so we'll see what we make from it. We probably won't plant any next year."

Marijuana, while not as profitable as opium, still makes more money than other legal crops.

"In order to survive and feed their families, the farmers have to cultivate marijuana," said Balkh drug squad chief Faiz Mohammad. "Other crops don't give a good profit."

Last month the United States unveiled a carrot-and-stick strategy to combat opium production. It plans to spend $25 million to $50 million in the next fiscal year to reward provinces that make significant progress against drugs.

The governor of Balkh, a former warlord, was credited for much of the success in eliminating opium in his province, but has complained he has yet to receive the promised incentives for doing so, let alone any funds for cutting back cannabis crops.

"Every year the international community announces that it is spending millions of dollars on counter-narcotics but we haven't seen a dime of that money," the Institute of War and Peace Reporting quoted governor Mohammad Atta as saying.

Balkh drugs squad chief Faiz Mohammad said his officers had made a start in informing farmers they should not plant cannabis and had requested funding from the national and local government to destroyed marijuana fields, but it had yet to arrive.