The U.S. government paid Afghan farmers who stopped growing poppies for potatoes more than $8,000 for their excess crop, the military said Friday.

The U.S. provincial reconstruction team for Ghazni -- a multidisciplinary team that provides economic and humanitarian aid and security forces to a region of Afghanistan -- paid three farmers' cooperatives 400,000 Afghan dollars for the crop, about $8,240, for about 40,000 kilograms of potatoes, the fair market value.

The potatoes were then distributed to refugees from the Pakistani earthquake and to Afghans returning after years in Pakistani refugee camps.

Poppies yield heroin. Afghanistan is one of the world's largest heroin producers. Weaning Afghan farmers off the illegal cash crop is one of the main goals of the Afghani government. The United States military has been reluctant to engage in eradication -- that is, destroying fields. Many of the farmers are not directly involved in the narcotics trade, but find themselves unable to earn enough with wheat or other crops.

"In the coalition's effort to assist Afghans in the transition from poppy to a more viable agricultural crop, CHAD purchased the potatoes to distribute humanitarian assistance food to returnees in the Asadabad, Jalalabad and Parwan districts," said U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. government is adopting a similar provincial reconstruction team approach to Iraq, as each province's security allows.

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