Main Crop and Economic Drivers of Afghanistan and how this effects the political situation.

Main Crop:

There are many crops in Afghanistan. Such as wheat, barley, apricots, grapes, mulberries, walnuts, almonds, melons, tomatoes, potatoes, onions



The main fruit crop of Afghanistan according to A.R. Manan, former Research Director in the Ministry of Agriculture, says that mulberry is the the primary fruit crop. It is grown by almost every farm-family. It is sold both fresh and dried.



Grown in all areas of Afghanistan, wheat is another important crop. Something interesting that I found out about growing wheat there is that 90% of wheat is fall-planted, and of course 10% is planted in the spring.



Economic Driver:
The economic driver in Afghanistan is opium. "Opium is narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of opium poppies. It contains 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade."[3]


How this effects the political situation:
As the economic driver in Afghanistan being opium, the effects are more widespread than just the political situation; it also effects the country as a whole. My thought is that no Afghan politician is going to be against the sales of opium, because without the sales Afghanistan as a country would fail economically. For example; lobbyist pay an abundance of money to speak to senators and influence which bills are and are not passed. Opium dealers bribe Afghan politicians to "look the other way" while they produce opium. Afghanistan's politicians may tell other world leaders that they will do something about opium, but they won't because of the economic impact it has.

~Emilie A.

Sources:
1-Seed and Crop Improvement situation assessment in Afghanistan
2-The Economist
3- Wikipedia