The largest rise in poppy production has occurred in Helmand province where about 4,000 British troops are based.

A Western anti-narcotics official in Kabul said that about 150,000 hectares (257,000 acres) were cultivated this year. In 2005 the figure was 104,000ha, with the previous highest figure being 131,000ha, in 2004. “It is a significant increase from last year . . . unfortunately, it is a record year,” a senior US government official based in Kabul said.

Afghanistan produced 87 per cent of the world’s opium last year. More than 90 per cent of the heroin sold in Britain comes from Afghanistan, a statistic cited as one reason for Britain sending troops there. The rise in poppy growth, which is expected to be announced soon by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, comes despite a much-heralded strategy by the Government in Kabul, backed by the international community, to rid Afghanistan of its reputation as the biggest contributor to the heroin trade.

Western diplomats said that the extra 40 per cent in poppy cultivation was largely due to more poppies being grown in Helmand. “It may be that the Taleban, warlords and drugs barons, all of whom feed off the poppy growing for their own ends, feared that this was their last chance to make big profits in Helmand because of expected counter-narcotics efforts in the province over the next 12 months,” one diplomat said.

“Much of these regions, where the drug smugglers live (and poppy is grown), are not under the control of the Government. We do not have a single soldier or police officer in many of the areas under the control of the drug dealers,” said al-Haj Muhiaddan, the spokesman for Engineer Mohammed Daud, the governor of Helmand.

General Muhammad Nabi Molakhel, the newly appointed police chief of Helmand, told The Times: “I’ve just arrived, so you have to blame the old chief of police. The insurgency is getting stronger and the Taleban are joining forces with the smugglers.”

The UN analysis of the poppy crop in the past 12 months will add to scepticism over the plan to provide the poppy farmers with alternative livelihoods. One idea is a “cash for work” scheme under which poppy farmers would be paid for doing labouring jobs.

Opponents of the plan say that this will do nothing to resolve the longer-term issue of creating a proper rural economy which will allow farmers to grow other crops.

The poppy season is over but before the next season begins there are plans for British troops to provide security cordons in key poppy-growing areas while Afghan counter-narcotics police move in to take action against the farmers.

Sher Muhammad Akhundzada, the previous governor of Helmand, who now has a seat in the Afghan senate, and the former chief of police were suspected of involvement in the opium business.

About 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s GDP comes from the opium economy. Under President Karzai’s counter-narcotics strategy the main efforts are focusing not only on poppy eradication but also on targeting the traffickers, arresting key individuals in the illegal trade and treating addicts. Not all observers are convinced. Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the Senlis Council, a think-tank that has proposed legalising poppy cultivation in Afghanistan for medical use, said: “Afghanistan is an opium economy. The eradication in southern Afghanistan has been totally ineffective — in fact it has enlarged the political base of the Taleban and other power holders.”

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