PESHAWAR, Pakistan Farmers in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas have resumed poppy cultivation this year despite government claims that it had eradicated the crop, a tribal elder said Monday, accoording to AFP.

Opium was being grown in six villages of the Tirah Valley near the Afghan border, Nusrat Afridi, head of the private Anti-Narcotics Youth Force said.

Afridi, who is also a leader of the rugged mountainous region's Kukikhel tribe, claimed "the crop is almost ready" and is expected to yield around 500 tons of raw opium.

Farmers last year agreed to destroy some their poppy crops in Tirah Valley after the government promised alternative sources of income through the United Nations Drug Control Program.

But Afridi said facilities promised by the authorities did not reach the farmers in the area.

Opium prices had also skyrocketed following a ban on the crop in Afghanistan last year, he said.

No comment was immediately available from government officials who have said Pakistan had totally eradicated poppy production.

Afridi demanded the authorities immediately undertake development schemes including education, health and communication projects in the semi-autonomous region, AFP reported.