British agents begin ploughing over Afghan poppy fields
Using tractors, they started to tear up fields of opium poppies in Helmand province in Afghanistan's "poppy belt". Helmand alone accounts for more than a quarter of the country's poppy cultivation.
The problem for the British and the Afghan authorities is that the opium poppy trade is vital to farmers in the region. Getting the farmers to stop growing the flowers - which thrive in Afghanistan's poor soil and abundant sunshine - could take decades.
