Afghan authorities set light to 21 tonnes of illegal drugs seized in Helmand province on Saturday (March 3).<br/> <br />The haul is one of the largest yet discovered in what remains one of the nation's largest opium-producing regions.<br/> <br />It includes raw opium, hashish, chemicals used to process opium into cocaine, and also alcohol.<br/> <br />Afghanistan has long been the world's leading supplier of opium, producing about 90 per cent of global output.<br/> <br />In recent years its output has exceeded global demand.<br/> <br />Efforts are continuing in Helmand and other areas of Afghanistan to wean poor farmers away the cash crop and to encourage them to grow agricultural produce instead.
