BALK, May 16, (Pajhwok Afghan News) -- Provincial officials in northern Balkh say due to the lack of equipment and manpower they have been unable to reach their targeted goal of eradicating all poppy fields in northern Balk, before the poppy harvest in summer.

Mohammad Tayeb Tayeb, the head of the agricultural department told Pajhwok Afghan News 11 thousand acres of poppy fields in the districts of Balkh, Chemtal, Dawlat Abad and Char Bolak and 32 thousand acres in the entire province were eradicated. "But there were still many poppy fields being prepared for harvesting,” he admitted.

Tayeb said a team consisting of 100 policemen appointed by the ministry of interior, government employees, and school pupils with the help of local residents were involved in the poppy eradication program using tractors and wooden tools.

The poppy harvest is imminent, and many poppy farmers are harvesting their crops in the dark of the night to escape eradication.

Residents claim farmers are doing this labor-intensive work to produce opium to feed their families. President Karzai’s promises has made many people mistrustful of the government, and fear they will be tricked into eradication without an income.

"I didn't grow poppies this year thanks to the government incentives to help, but there are many farmers who scratch poppy pods in the dark of the night," said forty-one year-old Mohammad Nasim.

Abdul Samad, 37, a resident of Balkh district said he destroyed his 15 acres of poppy, but "the government that promised to help after the destruction of the field, has not heard our cry, so how can I support an eight-member family?"

But Tayeb said that the Afghan government was prepared to assist farmers with an alternative to poppy by providing wheat and farming tools.

Afghanistan was described as a ‘Narco-state’ last year when the UN report said that Afghanistan produced 87% of the worlds opium and 60% of Afghanistan's economy depended on poppies.

But General Mohammad Daud Daud, deputy director of anti-narcotics campaign at the interior ministry during a trip to Mazar-e-Sharif said the government’s poppy eradication program was making positive steps forward. He called the year 2005, the year of poppy eradication.