Afghanistan: Economic incentives and development initiatives to reduce opium production from the World Bank and the Department of International Development calculates that it will take up to 20 years to eradicate and require a £1bn investment from world leaders.

Afghanistan produces and trades more than 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium. The size of the opium economy is around 30 percent of licit GDP, and millions of Afghans benefit directly or indirectly from it. The economic challenge of opium is overwhelmingly a rural one, argues the report: opium is the most valuable agricultural activity, and it provides income and employment for hundreds of thousands of Afghans.