Publication: Afghanistan : Economic Incentives and Development Initiatives to Reduce Opium Production
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2008-02
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2012-06-13
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This report is about how to progressively reduce over time Afghanistan's dependence on opium - currently the country's leading economic activity - by development initiatives and shifting economic incentives toward sustainable legal livelihoods. Specifically, the report identifies additional investments and policy and institutional measures to support development responses that can counterbalance the economic advantages of opium. It analyzes ways to change the relative incentives between licit and illicit cropping and to help enhance rural livelihoods for the poor, under better governance and security conditions. The report puts forward concrete recommendations and the expected impacts on growth, poverty reduction and the opium economy are assessed. The report first briefly discusses the policy context (Chapter 1) and provides an overview of the opium economy (Chapter 2), focusing on how different segments of the rural population interact with it. The report then analyzes the scope for increasing value added, competitiveness and productivity in agriculture (Chapter 3) and for promoting enterprise development and off-farm employment (Chapter 4). The complementary role of further investments in rural infrastructure is examined in Chapter 5, and measures for strengthening governance are analyzed in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7 issues that cut across all counter narcotics efforts are examined. A final chapter looks at implementation, and at issues of prioritization, synergies and phasing (Chapter 8). The recommendations of the report are encapsulated in a matrix at the end of the Executive Summary.
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“World Bank. 2008. Afghanistan : Economic Incentives and Development Initiatives to Reduce Opium Production. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7968 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Afghanistan : Economic Incentives and Development Initiatives to Reduce Opium Production(2008-02)This report is about how to progressively reduce over time Afghanistan's dependence on opium - currently the country's leading economic activity - by development initiatives and shifting economic incentives toward sustainable legal livelihoods. Specifically, the report identifies additional investments and policy and institutional measures to support development responses that can counterbalance the economic advantages of opium. It analyzes ways to change the relative incentives between licit and illicit cropping and to help enhance rural livelihoods for the poor, under better governance and security conditions. The report puts forward concrete recommendations and the expected impacts on growth, poverty reduction and the opium economy are assessed. The report first briefly discusses the policy context (Chapter 1) and provides an overview of the opium economy (Chapter 2), focusing on how different segments of the rural population interact with it. The report then analyzes the scope for increasing value added, competitiveness and productivity in agriculture (Chapter 3) and for promoting enterprise development and off-farm employment (Chapter 4). The complementary role of further investments in rural infrastructure is examined in Chapter 5, and measures for strengthening governance are analyzed in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7 issues that cut across all counter narcotics efforts are examined. A final chapter looks at implementation, and at issues of prioritization, synergies and phasing (Chapter 8). The recommendations of the report are encapsulated in a matrix at the end of the Executive Summary.Publication Securing Durable Development in Afghanistan : Policy Notes for the Government(Washington, DC, 2010-04)The government of Afghanistan has an opportunity in the coming months to turn the country around. It is now opportune to improve security, governance, and development. Unprecedented international military support, political attention and aid are available to Afghanistan. The government is inheriting years of good economic performance, notable progress on social outcomes, and continuing strong support from the international community. Gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at an average of 12 percent in the last five years with moderate inflation and a stable Afghani. The National Solidarity Program is spurring community-driven rural development in nearly all districts of the country and the large opium economy is in retreat. 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Section seven summarizes the recommendations of the review and their expected results for jobs and incomes.Publication Zambia's Jobs Challenge : Realities on the Ground(Washington, DC, 2013-09-01)In September 2013, the World Bank launched the second Zambia economic brief, entitled Zambia's jobs challenge: realities on the ground. This report presents response of the youth to the facts and figures shared in the Zambia economic brief. It gives a broad range of discussion, often provocative, as to how Zambia's employment challenges can be tackled. It discusses the issues as diverse as cultural mind-set, absence of entrepreneurial training, weaknesses in labor laws, and low investments in agriculture research and development.Publication Responding to Afghanistan's Opium Economy Challenge : Lessons and Policy Implications from a Development Perspective(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-03)Opium, Afghanistan's leading economic activity, lies at the heart of the challenges the country faces in state building, governance, security, and development. With their narrow law enforcement focus and limited recognition of development, security, and political implications, current global counter-narcotics polices impose a heavy burden on Afghanistan. This paper first provides a summary overview of Afghanistan's opium economy and the factors determining rural households' decisions on cultivating opium poppy. It then discusses the dynamic evolution of the Afghan drug industry in recent years, in particular its consolidation around fewer, powerful, politically-connected actors and the associated compromising of parts of some government agencies by drug industry interests. The paper reviews the experience with different counter-narcotics interventions, analyzes some proposals not yet tried in Afghanistan, and draws lessons and policy implications. Unfortunately there are no "silver bullets"-easy, quick, or one-dimensional solutions, and a longer-term horizon along with sustained commitment and resources will be required in order to phase out the opium economy over time. The paper concludes by putting forward some broad principles and approaches of a "smart strategy" against drugs in Afghanistan.
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