The opium bulbs of Myanmar: drug crop or lifeline for poor farmers?
Rural development to wean poppy farmers off their illicit crop contend with lack of roads, water and power in remote areas plagued by militias
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
An estimated 133,000 households in Myanmar, mainly found in impoverished, remote regions, last year grew poppies across 55,500 hectares (about 137,000 acres) of land, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Myanmar is the second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan. The trade in opium and its derivative heroin is controlled by many rebel groups and pro-government militias who use it to fund a long-running civil war. The opiates, along with methamphetamine, end up in China and across south-east Asia. (See also: Poppylands: Understanding Myanmar's addiction to heroin)
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