The government of Afghanistan is firm to curb growing poppy cultivation in the post-war nation, presidential spokesman said Tuesday.

"Government is determined to check poppy cultivation and that is why the president instructed all concerned organs and departments to prevent the plantation of the menace across the country," Mohammad Karim Rahimi told reporters at a regular weekly press briefing here.

Afghan farmers, he added, need to plant legal crops and contribute in rebuilding and recovering of the country's improvised economy.

"Poppy cultivation tarnishes the image of our country in the world and destroys our economy," Afghan Presidential spokesman stressed.

The post-Taliban central Asian state with an output of 4,200 tones opium poppy in 2004 and 4,100 tones in 2005 became the single largest supplier of the raw material used in manufacturing heroin in the world.

To control the menace, President Hamid Karzai in meeting with provincial governors and police chiefs late in the weekend ordered them to curb poppy cultivation at all cost in their jurisdictions in the country.

Under a counter-narcotics strategy launched in May 2003, the Afghan government wants to reduce poppy cultivation by 75 percent by 2008.

Source: Xinhua