A FORMER drug addict from Swindon has become a force for peace in Afghanistan after singlehandedly persuading more than 22,000 farmers to grow mulberries instead of opium poppies.

James Brett wants to help rebuild the shattered country, plagued by bloodshed involving the Taliban and ISIS, with fruit bars that were launched in Sainsbury's on Monday and go on sale in Waitrose next month.

The 47-year-old, who once lived in a tent near Wroughton, has pledged that a mulberry tree will be planted for every bar sold.

In the aftermath of colossal suicide bomb attacks and the US airstrike involving the 'mother of all bombs', it might seem a far-fetched concept.

But the entrepreneur is giving poor Afghans an alternative from growing poppies or joining the Taliban.

He said: “My whole persona is about recovery and I am trying to make Afghanistan recover.”

James fought back from sexual abuse and addiction to help the Afghan poppy farmers after giving a talk in the country for an aid agency.

The reformed addict, who was born and raised in Wroughton, has received support from Lord Richards, the former defence chief, Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan and Prince Charles, who has hosted a dinner for him.

But the biggest turning point was a trip to Afghanistan, which produces 90 per cent of the world's opium.

“When I saw the opium poppies it was profound," James said.

"I saw the farmers on the ground the way they were living, not earning much, and thought these people are stuck and don’t have a way out, just as me and my friends who were addicts didn’t have. And they had no idea what they were producing was doing in the rest of the world.”

James, who now lives in Armenia, has seen the sharp end of the trade in illicit substances, with two friends dying in drugs-related tragedies.

His own descent into a world of addiction, prison and mental health issues was triggered by sexual abuse he suffered from his grandfather at the age of nine.

When he told his mother - named "supermum of Wiltshire" for fostering children - she felt she had failed him.

A few months later she took her own life by jumping from a multi-storey car park.

“I felt to blame,” said James,

Aged 17, he began smoking up to 40 joints of cannabis a day, funded by shoplifting.

But he turned his life around, using compensation for his sexual abuse to buy a house and start importing furniture from Indonesia.

James was then involved in a pomegranate juice enterprise before being invited to Afghanistan by the Mercy Corps aid agency.

“The people making the money on opium are not the farmers," he said.

“I realised that while poppy yields a hundred times more per kilogram than pomegranate or mulberry, if you calculated the yield per hectare then the fruit was more.”

A placard James erected in a field saying 'pomegranate is the answer' drew television coverage and led to six gatherings across Afghanistan, with the final one attracting 14,000 people.

The US Embassy gave him $500,000 (£390,000 at today’s rates) to hold more elders' meetings along with 1.9million cuttings, after he burnt 13 tons of heroin.

Two years ago, James launched a range of pomegranate bars but the cuttings produced poor crops and the logistics of importing the produce from Afghanistan proved an uphill struggle.

Mulberries are his new 'superfood' venture, being similarly rich in antioxidants.

The bars are made with fruit grown on small Afghan farms and retail for £1.19 each in varieties blending chia, cocoa orange and apple

Plant for Peace aims to plant around 2.65m trees this year and to contribute $1.3bn to Afghanistan's farming industry by 2025.

“These bars are the first of their kind and are more than just a healthy snack," James said.

"These bars are proof that putting aside politics, anything is possible."