Palmer amaranth crowds out cotton plants, starving them of sunlight, nutrients and water, and is a very productive weed. Each female produces as many as 500,000 seedlings, meaning just one plant can birth an entire field. Unlike other pests, pigweed can continue to grow an inch a day even without water, making it particularly adept during the drought gripping the region. It also thrives in hot weather, continuing to grow when temperatures top 90 degrees and other plants shut down. The weed can even damage cotton pickers, the huge machines that pluck natural fiber from the cotton bolls.
The rapid spread of the resistance has "absolutely shocked" [University of Tennessee weed specialist] Larry Steckel. "It's hard to believe how quickly and strong the resistance has become and spread." Having been an Arkansas Extension weed specialist for years, Ken Smith thought he'd "quit being surprised at what weeds are capable of. But, let me tell you, these resistant pigweeds are so much worse than we thought they'd be."
The zero percent cultivation in 18 provinces was not—and I stress, was not—due to eradication. Only a very small amount of land was eradicated, only 5,000 hectares at a very high human cost—77 people died, half of them civilian and half of them policemen—and also at a very high economic cost. We are therefore making a change towards our policy regarding eradication.
For the third year in a row, opium supply far outweighs world demand. Prices are falling, but not dramatically. This suggests that vast amounts of opium, heroin and morphine have been withheld from the market.
