Afghanistan, the world's top opium producer that produces more opium than rest of the world combined, is set to produce vastly more of this substance derived from the opium poppy plant thanks to a genetically modified strain of this plant developed by China.
The new strain also allows opium poppy plants to be cultivated year round instead of six months in a year. This flood of cheap opium and heroin has hit world markets last year and is worrying law enforcement authorities worldwide no end.
China, by the way, is the world's 10th largest producer of opium, which is processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade.
Afghanistan last week released new data showing a massive increase in opium production. The report said the main problem today is a new strain of genetically modified seed that developed by China that allows poppies to be grown year round.
These "Chinese seeds" began appearing in 2015, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), resulting in a massive 43 percent surge in opium production in 2016.
Because of Chinese seeds, the growth cycle of opium in Afghanistan is now around two months, when it used to take three times as long to grow the crop and process it into heroin.
That means heroin can now be cultivated on a year-round basis, said the report from Afghanistan.
"We are aware of the new seed in town," said Afghan government spokesperson Javid Faisal.
Afghanistan is gathering more information about the new opium seed, and the government is in "search to find ways to avoid its traffic," revealed Faisal.
The Afghan government said most of the opiate produced within the country is being sold in the global drug market, with Russia and Pakistan the leading markets for the opiate.
The Afghan opium trade remains a key source of funding for the Taliban. The Taliban recently captured a key district in Helmand province (a major hub for poppy production) ahead of the plant's peak season.
In 2007, UNODC data estimated the Afghan export value of opiates to be around $4 billion. That amount has significantly increased over the next 120 years as the Taliban continues to use opiate revenue to fuel its insurgency against the Afghan government and NATO forces.
Taliban forces cultivate the opium, and a massive 90 percent of poppy fields are "in the areas which are under the Taliban control. They get a tenth of the opium produced in Afghanistan," said Faisal.