Burma poppy cultivation up
UN report cites rebels, corruption
UNITED NATIONS - Opium poppy cultivation in Burma rose alarmingly in 2006 after six years of dramatic declines, driven in part by corruption and the lack of government control in areas where insurgent groups operate, the UN drug chief said yesterday.
The amount of land devoted to opium poppies had decreased from about 321,230 acres in 1998 to just 53,100 acres in 2006 after Burma's military regime joined neighboring Thailand and Laos in a campaign to eradicate the crop, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said.
But Burma's opium poppy growing rebounded 29 percent last year to 68,450 acres, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN agency.
"The situation is extremely alarming," Costa said. "The increase this year may be a single, 12-month experience . . . but that's too early to say."
Opium is the main ingredient of heroin, and Burma is the world's second-largest opium producer, although it trails the top producer by a wide margin.
Afghanistan has roughly 477,000 acres of poppy fields, a 17 percent rise from last year's 408,000 acres, the UN's annual survey said.
Costa said there were many factors in the rebound of poppy growing in Burma.
The majority of the nation's fields, he said, are concentrated in states along its eastern borders with China and Thailand, where ethnic insurgents hold sway. Those groups may be using opium sales to purchase weapons, he said.
"Once again, we see, like in Afghanistan, like in Colombia, like in some other parts of the world, illicit activity is taking place in an area where there is no government control," Costa said.
He said poor farmers also are lured by good prices for opium, about double in Burma what Afghan poppy growers get. Farmers "think twice before giving up opium, and some of them are actually going back to planting poppies," he said.
Demand for opium among users in the region has not declined as steadily as it has in Europe, Costa added.
"Opium is still very much the drug of choice there," he said.
Costa also pointed to corruption within the Burmese government that allows opium to be smuggled into China, Thailand, and Laos.
"As a result, plenty of powerful people are profiting," he said. 