United Nations:  A hike in opium and coca cultivation in rebel-held areas of Afghanistan and Colombia in 2007 could put at risk progress in worldwide drug control, said a UN report released today.

The World Drug Report 2008,by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), found that Afghanistan had a record opium harvest in 2007 8,200 metric tons or 92 per cent of global production which led to a near doubling of the world s illegal opium output since 2005.

The area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose by 17 per cent last year, making it the largest ever in the country, it found.

The study also noted that 80 per cent of the output came from five southern provinces where Taliban insurgents profit from drug trafficking.

"Greater stability and higher economic assistance are getting rid of opium in many provinces of Afghanistan," UNDOC chief Antonio Maria Costa noted.

But he stressed that in the Taliban-controlled south, "counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency must be fought together."

In many parts of the country, opium cultivation is ending or declining to low levels, the report said, with the number of provinces free of poppy in Afghanistan up from six in 2006 to 13 in 2007.

Opium poppy cultivation also rose in southeast Asia after six years of decline, mainly due to a 29 per cent surge in Myanmar, UNDOC said.

Meanwhile in Colombia, coca cultivation jumped by 27 per cent in 2007,mainly in areas held by leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, UNDOC said.

Its report said that despite this marked rise in coca cultivation, cocaine production in Colombia, the world s leader, remained unchanged because of lower yields.

Source : PTI