The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said opium cultivation in Afghanistan is rising 59 percent this year to produce a record 6,100 tons. That's nearly a third more than the world's drug users consume.

The UN chief Antonio Maria Costa made the announcement to reporters in Kabul after presenting the survey results to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

“On the opium front, today, in some of the provinces of Afghanistan, regarding opium we face a state of emergency. We insist on arresting and bringing to justice the 100 most serious drug traffickers and opium farmers. While we propose to seize their assets and redistribute them to the people of Afghanistan.”

The survey conducted by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime showed the area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record 165-thousand hectares this year, up from about 100-thousand hectares last year.

The bulk of the increase was recorded in Helmand province, where cultivation rose 162 percent and accounted for 42 percent of the Afghan crop.