Brussels, 20/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), presented a report to the European Commission on 16 September on the situation of opium trafficking and production in Afghanistan in 2005. Compared to 2004, the surface area of land devoted to opium poppy growing fell throughout the country by 21% on average, and plummeted spectacularly in the province of Nangarhar (-96%), which had hitherto been one of the main production centres. There was a sharp increase, however, in the provinces of Kandahar, Balkh and Farah, thus showing a geographical displacement of production from the north-east to the south-west. Productivity remains high, rising from 32 kg/hectare in 2004 to 39 kg/hectare in 2005 (compared to that in Myanmar which is only 8 kg/hectare), so that production measured in tonnes has only fallen 2%. According to the estimates of the World Bank, the proceeds of opium trafficking (US$2.14 billion) correspond to 52% of legal GDP (US$5.2 billion), despite a relative fall in prices. The most worrying element, according to Mr Costa, is the displacement of opium growing to the provinces where it had not been grown hitherto, together with already high production. Furthermore, the relative improvement in the 2005 situation does not allow one to predict how the situation will develop in 2006.