CaptionFarm workers harvest rice stalks from a paddy. The stalks are used for animal bedding and feed. In March, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) appealed for US $60 million to boost agriculture in Afghanistan, and help deter opium production. Some 85 per cent of Afghanistan's population rely on farming for their survival, and the country is the world's largest opium producer. The FAO said that rehabilitating the agricultural sector was essential to curbing the cultivation of opium poppies.
