(very) Good Question on Afghanistan

Could Afghan poppy be used to produce biodiesel?

Published in the Financial Times: January 14 2008 02:00

From Mr Marc Grossman.

Sir, Edmond Phelps and Graciana del Castillo (“A strategy to help Afghanistan kick its habit”, January 4) make an important contribution to the discussion of how best to help Afghans stop growing poppy for narcotics and start growing something legal that can provide a decent living.

Perhaps those working on this question should consider using the poppy already grown in Afghanistan to produce biomass for biodiesel. Biodiesel is made using plant oils and can be a fuel in its pure form with some engine modifications, although it is usually blended with regular diesel.

In a small Australian pilot programme in 2005, Tasmanian farmers used biodiesel produced from poppy seed, which is about 50 per cent oil, to run their tractors.

Given the stakes in Afghanistan, Nato should propose a crash programme of international research to determine whether opium poppy can be economically used as biomass for the large-scale production of biodiesel. Assuming the technical questions can be tackled, there will be other issues.

Can the Afghan government ensure, perhaps through subsidies as Prof Phelps and Dr del Castillo propose, that the price for poppy will equal or exceed the price that narco-traffickers are willing to pay? Assuming that some illegal market will continue to exist in parallel with the legal one, what government controls, including a continuing eradication programme to deter cheating, will be necessary to ensure the vast majority of the crop is sold for production of biomass fuel?

Since truck drivers in Afghanistan and south Asia use diesel, the Afghan government could set up biodiesel plants in Afghanistan to process the poppy, providing much-needed jobs. Other countries with drug production problems, such as Pakistan or Colombia, might also adopt the process if it is successful and simultaneously reduce drug production, create jobs and promote a more sustainable environment.

Marc Grossman,
Vice-Chairman,
The Cohen Group,
Washington, DC 20004, US