But he did not blame only the Taliban for the increase. He specifically accused the former governor of Helmand Province, Sher Muhammad Akhund, of encouraging farmers to grow more poppies in the months before he was removed from office. The result was an increase of 160 percent in that “villain province” from its harvest last year, he said, the highest rise in the country.

“There is evidence of major pressure exerted by him in favor of cultivating opium,” Mr. Costa said.

In the news briefing on Saturday, Mr. Costa also criticized the government’s action of removing the governor and giving him a position in the upper house of Parliament.

“I have been on record for asking the president for corrupt officials not to be moved around but to be removed, to be neutralized; if records can prove conviction, to be arrested and convicted. So far we do not have much evidence for that And we hope that more forceful initiatives will be taken exactly in that area,” he said.

One province in the north, Badakhshan, where there is no problem of an insurgency, also had a significant increase in poppy cultivation.

Mr. Costa attributed that mostly to the lack of government control and the presence of powerful warlords and corrupt local officials. A substantial drought also played a part, because no alternative crop could survive as the poppies did.

While the government had improved its performance at eradication of the poppy crop, it had failed to do enough to catch traffickers and corrupt officials, he said.

The United Nations drugs office, which measures the eradication program, said about 38,000 acres of poppy fields were confirmed to have been destroyed, whereas only about 12,000 acres were confirmed destroyed last year. Government reporting on how much was eradicated was also less exaggerated, Mr. Costa said. In 2005, province governors had reported eradicating about 87,000 acres and the United Nations could only confirm 12,000 destroyed. In 2006, governors reported 57,000 acres destroyed, and the drug office confirmed 38,000, he said.