Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday termed poppy plantation as a stigma to his country and called upon farmers to stop poppy cultivation.

"Poppy cultivation as a stigma tarnishes the image of Afghanistan in our world and so, I am calling on the farmers to substitute the menace with legal crops, to develop agriculture and vineyard," he told hundreds of farmers attending a three-day seminar held here.

The President also described the plantation of poppy as an act against Islam, the religion of Afghans, and urged his countrymen to fight against it.

"Poppy cultivation is against Islam, it destroys our society, it destroys our youngsters and our families, and so, it is our prime responsibility to get rid our society of it," Karzai said.

With output of 4,100 tons of opium poppy in 2005, Afghanistan became the largest supplier of the raw material in manufacturing heroin in the world.

Surveys conducted by some agencies anticipated further growth in poppy cultivation in 2006.

"We have to revive our agriculture, our gardens and our vineyards. Our country was famous for producing melon, gripes, raisin and pomegranate. Let us produce fruits and recover our economy,"Karzai said.

In May 2003, Afghanistan launched a program, planning to reduce the poppy cultivation by 75 percent by 2008.

Afghan Minister for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Abidullah Ramin said that his Ministry was chalking out a national strategy to provide alternative livelihood to the farmers and help them to recover their economy in a legal way.

Source: Xinhua