Poppy cultivation and opium trade are banned in Afghanistan. Growing strawberries emerges as an alternative livelihood for farmers in some rural provinces.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's Kandahar, Helmand and Zabul provinces have always been close to the heart of the world's opium, and later heroin, trade. Poppy cultivation has been outlawed, but not for the first time. Almost every government in Afghanistan's war-torn history has tried to do the same.

The perennial problems the country's leaders face are very few means of alternative ways of making a living in the undeveloped mountains, and that the profits of the trade are simply much more than are to be found in other, legal, pursuits.

"Strawberries could be a suitable alternative to poppies if agriculture authority supports farmers," said agriculture official Mohammad Allah Nuri. Demand for strawberries is high and pretty constant, prompting farmers in Dand, Arghandab and Zhari districts to switch plantation.

"We have planted more than 50 acres (of strawberries) over the past three years and the process is on the rise," Nuri said. "Farmers can harvest 150 kg of strawberries from one acre. At the local bazaar, strawberries sell for about 200 afghanis (2.5 U.S. dollars) per kg."

Kandahar, which is already famous for growing pomegranate, apricot, peach and grape, growing and exporting strawberries would further earn popularity for the southern province.

"I grow strawberries on five acres in Zhari," farmer Aziz Ahmad Ahmadi told Xinhua recently. "I earn up to 500,000 afghanis (about 5,688 U.S. dollars) from my land each year."

The poppy ban will force the farmers to seek alternatives, and the provincial directorate for agriculture will provide support, said Nuri, adding that some farmers in Kandahar have also switched to beekeeping and honey production.