Ethnic groups reject government claim of drop in poppy cultivation

DVB ( 22 October, 2003 )

Col Tin Hlaing, the State Peace and Development Council's home affairs minister, said on 14 October that Burma was able to reduce illicit poppy cultivation and narcotics drugs production without receiving any international assistance.

He claimed Burma has achieved a 41 per cent reduction in poppy cultivation and a 26 per cent reduction in opium production within a three-year span.

Col Tin Hlaing made the claim at a regional anti-drug meeting (24th Meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters, ASOD) held in Rangoon and stated that the objective of Burma is to be totally drug free by the year 2014.

But, Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) and Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) objected Col Tin Hlaing's claims and added that poppy cultivation has increased in the Shan and Palaung regions.

DVB correspondent Maung Too filed this report.

Maung Too : At yesterday's meeting, Col Tin Hlaing said poppy cultivation of 250,000 acres in 2001 has decreased to 150,000 acres in the 2002 poppy cultivation season indicating a 41 per cent drop in illicit poppy cultivation with estimated production declining from 1,100 to 800 tonnes. Col Tin Hlaing gave a similar report at the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control meeting held on 9 October and exclaimed that illicit poppy cultivation has dramatically decreased especially in northern Shan State. In contrary to Col Tin Hlaing's speech, a spokesperson for the Shan State-based SHAN said not only has illicit poppy cultivation remain large in Shan State it has also increased in the Wa region.

SHAN spokesperson : We do not know how Col Tin Hlaing based his facts but in northern Shan State the illicit poppy cultivation has really declined and the UN has also endorsed it. But, local people said as much as poppy cultivation has decreased in the north, it has increased in the south and in the east. If the poppy farmers have no money they were given loans to cultivate. While in some cases intimidation was even applied. When the UN personnel went to Wa region and took the opium cultivation survey, they said illicit poppy cultivation has increased by 21 per cent. That is why we cannot understand what Col Tin Hlaing was claiming.

Maung Too : Similarly, PSLF General-Secretary Mang Aik Pon said he does not accept Col Tin Hlaing's claim that illicit poppy cultivation has decreased.

Mang Aik Pon : I do not see any decline in the cultivation but I noticed the relocation of the poppy fields. There is no reduction and cultivation seems normal. In Mu-se and Namhkam regions, the illegal poppy fields have been relocated because they are not allowed to cultivate in blatant and known locations so they had to move out to unknown destinations to cultivate poppy.

Maung Too : At present, raw opium, heroin, and amphetamine tablets produced in Burma are not only flooding Thailand, they are also being trafficked to Malaysia, China, and India.

(BBC Monitoring Service)