Why corn not opium is Afghanistan's deadliest crop

Corn on the cob has emerged as the latest deadly threat to British troops engaged in foot patrols around the sweaty farmlands of the Helmand river valley.

The towering maize plants that can grow to 2.5m (8ft) high have proved to be the perfect shield for insurgents to hide behind when they bury homemade bombs near Forward Operating Base Keenan.

Now Major Olly Brown, the base's commanding officer, is doing everything he can to persuade farmers not to grow it anymore, establishing a crop substitution campaign which offers seeds to grow watermelon, green peas or saffron instead.

It is an irony not lost on the men that, in an area where little else is grown apart from opium poppies, one of the few legal crops favoured by farmers is being singled out for replacement. But for Brown, who commands 120 British soldiers at Keenan, the war on drugs is on hold as he concentrates on pushing insurgents out of agricultural settlements in his area and protecting his men from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Technology to detect IEDs and prevent the radio-controlled variety from exploding has improved, but Taliban bomb makers have also raised their game, manufacturing "no-metal" devices on which only the detonating battery shows up on a metal detector. In the last month they have found a way to do away with the battery entirely, with a wooden bomb that uses a chemical reaction to detonate the charge. Metal detectors are useless and the devices can only be found by looking for disturbances in the soil. Nonetheless Brown is pleased with the relatively limited damage the IEDs have done to his company.

He said: "We have only had two double amputees, which for a five-month tour I think is pretty good. It's tough on platoon leaders sending people ahead [with mine detectors] because the next step they take could be their last."

The UK has invested heavily in schemes to deter poppy cultivation.

But farmers say they are not ready to give up farming the plant. Kahlifa Atullah, a farmer regarded as a trusted ally by the British, said the time is not right to ask people to stop growing it.

"Right now in this condition if you say to anyone stop growing opium they will go up to the north to the place controlled by the Taliban where they are growing poppy freely."

The British are not going to push the matter, and try not to harm the poppy crops – although it is often unavoidable because of the need to avoid tracks and paths where IEDs are buried. But, as Brown frequently has to explain to angry farmers, they only pay compensation for damaging legal crops
Guardian