Brussels, 12/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner expressed disappointment at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday with the latest opium farming forecasts, predicting a rise in poppy production, for Afghanistan this year. The experts believe that in 2006, Afghanistan will grow 6,100 tonnes of opium, 92% of the world total, despite the anti-drugs campaign. The overall rise in the amount of opium grown this year is disappointing, she said. We are facing an incredibly difficult task but it is also too important to be abandonned, explains Ferrero-Waldner in a press release, adding that the Commission is determined to continue with its efforts. The Commissioner was speaking following a meeting with the Director of the United Nations Anti-Drug and Crime Bureau, Antonio Maria Costa, and the Afghan anti-drugs minister Habibullah Quaderi. Du ring the meeting, Costa presented the UN anti-drugs bureau's annual report, noting that despite more than USD 2 bn spent by the international community to try and stamp out opium production, Afghanistan would see a 49% rise in opium production in 2006, and a 59% rise in the land mass devoted to growing the opium poppy. 'This report is not pleasant reading (…). Steps to eradicate the opium poppy must go hand in hand with steps to eradicate poverty In a land as poor as Afghanistan, farmers need sustainable, legal forms of income to resist the temptation to grow opium,' warned Costa.