Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has been increasing for a third year in a row and is heading for a record high, the U.N. said in a report released Monday. The boom in poppy cultivation is at its most pronounced in the Taliban's heartland in the south...

Increased production has been driven by unusually high opium prices, but more cultivation of Afghanistan's premier cash crop is also an indication that Afghans are turning to illicit markets and crops as the real economy shrinks ahead of the expected withdrawal of foreign combat troops at the end of 2014.
Link to Yahoo summary:http://news.yahoo.com/un-afghan-opiu...081638728.html

Link to UNODC report:http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-...13_phase12.pdf