2 July 2009
Many will welcome the news this week of a revised US policy for Afghan poppy farmers.
At a G8 meeting in Italy, Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan, outlined the replacement of the current poppy eradication programme with a new plan to fund Afghan farmers in growing alternative crops.
The previous policy had included eradication of poppy crops in an attempt to cut opium trade.
However, many Afghan farmers are now suffering extreme poverty without a viable income alternative to poppy growing.
In desperation, without food supply or livelihoods, many families have even been forced to send their children over the border into Pakistan, to smuggle in flour for businessmen who ‘rent’ them for the day.
Some children are making three or four trips a day to earn enough to feed their families. On each trip, they face being beaten or arrested, and dragging back a 20kg sack of flour earns them the equivalent of a mere 16 US cents.
In the light of this hardship, growing other crops and developing sustainable livelihoods could be the first step to finding a long-term alternative to the poppy industry in Afghanistan.
It may contribute to releasing poor Afghan families from poverty, and helping to put an end to child labour and exploitation.
Tearfund’s partners in Afghanistan have been working on food security issues and disaster risk reduction since 2002. There are often challenges working in a country troubled by both violence and extreme weather conditions. But they continue to work tirelessly to keep the focus on the needs of local people, and to create a sustained peace and prosperity.
• Please pray that God will enable Tearfund’s Afghan partners to continue their work with sensitivity and resourcefulness to release people from poverty.
• Pray that God will protect Afghan children forced into smuggling by extreme poverty, and bring hope and change to their situation.
• Pray that growing alternative crops will be instrumental in bringing vital income to rural communities, ensuring the safety and health of their families and the education and growth of their children.
• Pray that world leaders will work to find sustainable solutions to global challenges with justice and wisdom, always mindful of prioritising society’s poorest people.