New poppy variety boosts opium production

The cash crop of the Taliban and the scourge of Afghanistan is the country's intractable cultivation of opium.

This year, many Afghan poppy farmers are expecting a windfall as they get ready to harvest opium from a new variety of poppy seeds that is said to boost yields of the resin that produces heroin.

The plants are said to grow bigger and faster, use less water than previous seeds and produce up to double the opium.