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Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read It's a country, teen finale for "American Idol" 19 May 2011 UPDATE 1-Predictor of May 21 doomsday to watch it on TV 19 May 2011 Whistleblower says Russian troops fed dog food 19 May 2011 "Grease" actor Jeff Conaway critical after overdose 19 May 2011 Latest "Pirates" may not match previous installment 19 May 2011 Discussed 104 Texas county official says ”stupid” feds sparked fire 81 Israel-Palestinian violence erupts on three borders 68 Boehner says ready to cut budget deal today Watched End of the world as we know it...on May 21 Wed, May 18 2011 Arnold Schwarzenegger's mystery woman identified Thu, May 19 2011 Acting IMF chief lays out strategy 4:06am EDT Afghanistan, West hope farming will crush Taliban, poppy lure Tweet Share this By Amie Ferris-Rotman KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Lush green fields hug a canal snaking through the dusty landscape of what was once Afghanistan's breadbasket, feeding off water from a newly restored dam aimed at tarnishing the lure for... Email Print Related News Farm states suffer expanded drought, wheat suffers Thu, May 19 2011 Wheat, corn surge over 3 percent on weather problems Wed, May 18 2011 UPDATE 3-Canada aims to end Wheat Board monopoly in 2012 Wed, May 18 2011 Twelve dead in protests after two women killed in Afghan raid Wed, May 18 2011 U.S. deepens engagement with Afghan Taliban to end war: report Tue, May 17 2011 Analysis & Opinion Tunisiaâ€™s spring What are China’s next steps? Related Topics World » A large field of poppies grows on the outskirts of Jelawar village in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar April 18, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Bob Strong By Amie Ferris-Rotman KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | Fri May 20, 2011 3:36am EDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Lush green fields hug a canal snaking through the dusty landscape of what was once Afghanistan's breadbasket, feeding off water from a newly restored dam aimed at tarnishing the lure for farmers to cultivate poppy and help the Taliban. More than thirty years of warfare and chaos, starting with the Soviet invasion in 1979, has gutted Afghanistan's farms and food industry, destroying valleys that were once rich with pomegranates, wheat and grapes. Disgruntled and impoverished farmers in southern Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban and one of the country's poorest areas, have turned to fighting instead, tempted by the Taliban's fast cash offer to would-be insurgents. They also grow opium poppy, a more hardy crop that needs less water than others, making Kandahar one of the top poppy-producing regions in the country, a trade that fuels insecurity through its inseparable links with the Taliban. "Now people will have work, instead of fighting," said Energy and Water Minister Ismail Khan, one of Afghanistan's most prominent politicians and a staunch anti-Taliban crusader. White-bearded Khan surveyed the vast Dahla Dam, whose newly restored diversion weir was officially unveiled this week by Canada. The Canadians have the sixth-largest force in the NATO-led war in Afghanistan. "Rehabilitating such dams can actually increase security through finding jobs, and having better harvests," Khan told Reuters through an interpreter in the baking heat. Since 2008, Canada has poured C$50 million ($53 million) into Afghanistan's second-largest dam, which is a lifeline for 80 percent of Kandahar's 1 million residents, most of whom eke out a living through farming. More than half a million cubic meters of silt and debris have been cleared from the 74 km-long (46 miles) canal and its dozens of tributaries that stretch from the dam at the mouth of the Arghandab River, properly irrigating the land for the first time in decades. Canadian officials say last fall's bumper pomegranate harvest was exported to the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations credits the dam project for the high-value saffron spice replacing poppy production in Daman, a district of some 30,000. Mint, grapes, wheat and beekeeping are also being introduced. "The project is to restore the vitality of the agricultural economy of Kandahar, which it had in the past and is recovering as we speak," said Tim Martin, Canada's Representative for Kandahar. Martin added such recovery is also "part of providing people with alternatives to poppy." OPIUM POPPY APPEAL But the attraction to relatively low-risk poppy, which has flourished in Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan forces ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, will be hard to shake. Opium, a thick paste derived from poppy plants, is processed into heroin. Ninety percent of the world's heroin is sourced from Afghanistan, most of it from the country's south. Poppy holds enormous appeal for Afghanistan's farmers, despite potential government fines for farming something "haram," or forbidden in Islam, as well as facing the possibility of having one's crops destroyed. Its fields require one-sixth of the irrigation needed by a similar-sized area of wheat, and its harvests do not need to be transported or an export market found and established. Taliban-led militants are believed to derive up to $400 million a year in revenues from production, taxes imposed on farmers, and trafficking of the drug. Even if alternative crops were to flourish, reliance on poppy will be hard to break without proper anti-drugs legislation and improved security, warns the local United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "If those elements are not fulfilled then better irrigation... may have the opposite effect -- more opium cultivation," Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UNODC in Afghanistan, told Reuters. "Development should not be a 'Mother Theresa' scheme but come with conditionality," he said. And in a country where violence last year hit its worst levels in an increasingly unpopular war now in its tenth year, the risk of political uncertainty and poor security looms. The UNODC said last month in a report that 90 percent of villages in the south of the country with poor security are involved in poppy cultivation. Though Washington and its allies have backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's peace plan, which includes negotiations with the Taliban, there is still little idea how that plan will work, especially without lasting solutions to the poppy problem. (Editing by Paul Tait and Miral Fahmy) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. 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