The cultivation of the cannabis also known as marijuana has gone down in the war-torn Afghanistan, said officials citing a yearly report released here on Tuesday.

"Statistics, based on a survey '2012 Survey of Commercial Cannabis Cultivation and Production,' show that the total area under commercial cannabis cultivation in 2012 was estimated at 10, 000 hectares, or 17 percent less than in 2011," deputy Minister of Counter Narcotics Mohammad Ibrahim Azhar told reporters at a joint press conference with Regional Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Jean-Luc Lemahieu here.

The joint survey was conducted in 16 provinces out of the country's 34 provinces, where commercial cannabis cultivation had been observed or reported in past surveys, he said.

However, the official said that the production of the marijuana remained high last year in the country.

"A case to the point is that the licit agricultural production this year is at a high level and this is not different for the cannabis yields. Despite the drop in acreage, more cannabis powder (garda) could be extracted from the fields compared to the previous year (136 kg/ha in 2012, compared to 112 kg/ha for 2011). The potential production is estimated at 1,400 tons, an increase of 21 percent," said a joint press release issued following the briefing.

"Growing cannabis remains lucrative despite a downward correction in prices observed since the peak in 2011. In 2012, farmers potentially achieved a gross income of 6,400 US dollars per hectare from cannabis resin, which exceeds the gross income from opium (4,600 US dollars per hectare) in the same year. Limitations for farmers to move from opium to cannabis relate to water access, the long vegetation cycle making double cropping near impossible, and the summer season of planting which competes with food crops and vegetables indispensable for the farmer families," it noted.

"While it is nice to bring some positive news out of Afghanistan, complacency would be very misplaced at a time where the illicit economy seems thriving. Too many aid actors consider illicit crops as alien do their work and prefer to have nothing to do with it. This negatively affects the implementation of the national drug control policy, artificially compartmentalizes agriculture as if a farmer's brain can be split in two halves, a licit and an illicit one, and finally bounces back through insecurity and corruption impacting the aid provided," said Lemahieu.

Majority of the marijuana cultivation took place in southern and eastern provinces, where Taliban insurgents are active, Azhar said.

The insurgency-hit Afghanistan also produces about 74 percent of the world's opium, the raw element for making heroin.