Afghanistan remains the world\'s largest producer of opium despite efforts to tackle the problem by the Afghan government and the international authorities, the UN drugs agency says. A new survey by the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, says dismantling the Afghan opium economy will be a long and complex process. Afghanistan produced almost three quarters of the world\'s opium in 2002, the report says. This, despite a comprehensive ban on drug production and trade by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The report says measures taken by the Afghan government are crucial steps towards solving the drug issue, but it says more needs to be done to tackle a problem that\'s deeply rooted in Afghan society, after decades of civil and military strife. The Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said growing opium has become a way of life for many of the most vulnerable Afghans. Poor farmers, traders, women and children, he says, remain at the mercy of Afghan warlords and international criminal gangs. The report stresses the importance of providing better jobs and education, particularly for women and children. Mr Costa says it is not enough to tackle the symptoms of the problem. The trade and production in opium, he says, can only be tackled by democratic structures, the rule of law and development. (BBC)