Opium cultivation is back on the rise in Myanmar and Laos despite government eradication campaigns, with impoverished farmers lured by higher prices and strong demand from neighboring countries, a UN report said yesterday.
Land used for growing opium, a paste from poppy used to make heroin, has increased by 14 percent in Myanmar from last year and 38 percent in Laos, according to satellite and helicopter surveys carried out jointly by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Myanmar and Laos governments.
The two countries form part of Southeast Asia’s infamous Golden Triangle, which once accounted for more than 70 percent of the world’s supply of heroin.
Myanmar accounts for 91 percent of regional production and an estimated 9 percent of global output. Afghanistan supplies at least three-quarters of global production.
Poverty and food security were a big concern in all the areas of Myanmar surveyed, with an estimated 35 percent of people having insufficient food, providing little incentive for farmers to stop growing poppies.
Cultivation in Southeast Asia climbed 16 percent this year and there was twice as much land growing opium as five years ago, the survey said.
“There needs to be recognition that the lack of security, political stability and sustainable development are some of the key drivers behind increased opium production,” UNODC executive director Yuri Fedotov said in the report.
Cultivation rose for a fifth consecutive year in Myanmar after six years of decline. The survey showed 43,600 hectares of land was used for opium, up 14 percent from last year. Although average yields had fallen 8 percent, the larger area under cultivation resulted in an overall increase.
The affected areas were Shan State, which accounts for 91 percent of total growth, and Kachin State, where cultivation was up 27 percent from last year.
Kachin and Shan States bordering China have for decades been battlefields between ethnic rebels and Myanmar’s military, leaving the areas virtually lawless and deprived of state funds.
Critics have long doubted Myanmar’s commitment to wiping out the lucrative trade because some of the military generals who led the country until early this year enjoyed close ties with tycoons linked to the drug business.
However, Western countries are hoping the new civilian government that took office in March, which seems keen to improve Myanmar’s image and engage with the international community, might take a tougher line on opium.
The government has embarked on a series of reforms that have stunned its critics and is now seeking peace talks with rebel groups in Shan and Kachin. It has made cooperation to suppress drug production central to proposed ceasefire deals.
In Laos, large concentrations of growth were detected in two provinces previously identified as opium-free.
The total area under cultivation was still low compared with 10 years ago, but it represented a 38 percent increase from last year, expanding 4,100 hectares, with a potential yield of 25 tonnes that was drawing more families into a business geared mostly toward serving local addicts, the UNODC said.
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