This 2010 Afghanistan Cannabis Survey updates the first-ever Afghanistan Cannabis Survey that was produced in 2009 by the UNODC and the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN). Based on years of evidence from cannabis seizures that pointed to Afghanistan as a main cannabis producer, the 2009 survey was the initial effort to systemically estimate cannabis cultivation and production in the country. The findings confirmed Afghanistan's role as a major grower of cannabis, but also discovered that the country produced more cannabis resin or hashish than any other nation. The reason why was found to be the country's high yields, up to 145 kg of resin per hectare as compared to Morocco's 40 kg per hectare.
The 2010 survey - based on data from yield studies, satellite imagery and village-level interviews with farmers and headmen - found indications of both stability and change relative to the 2009 survey. Once again, due to very high yields, Afghanistan produced the world's largest supply of hashish, with a production estimate of between 1,200 and 3,700 tons of cannabis resin a year - an estimate largely unchanged from the year before when the resin yield was estimated to be 1,500 to 3,500 tons a year.
Also relatively stable was the amount of land devoted to growing cannabis, with between 9,000 and 29,000 hectares under cannabis cultivation in 2010. The number of Afghanistan's 34 provinces that grow cannabis, however, increased from 17 in 2009 to 19 in 2010. No significant cannabis cultivation was reported in the remaining 15 provinces.