Rebel forces in Myanmar’s Karenni State have vowed to stamp out opium cultivation, warning farmers that next year no poppy fields will be spared if planting continues.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), which controls much of the state, says poppy growing has spread rapidly since the 2021 military coup, moving beyond traditional areas in Pekon township into Loikaw and Demoso. Brigade 4 Commander Moe Nyo issued what he called a “final warning”, insisting that open cultivation along roadsides and near homes must end.

On Monday, KNDF fighters destroyed nearly an acre of poppy beside the Union Highway in western Demoso. Moe Nyo blamed poverty and crop failures for the surge, but argued that opium has worsened social problems, fuelling trafficking, addiction and crime. “Far from improving livelihoods, it has undermined the social fabric,” he said.

Karenni’s Interim Executive Council admits its response has been patchy. Secretary Banyar Khun Aung said restrictions are enforced only at township level, with no coordinated state-wide policy. Long-time growers are tolerated to some extent, but new large-scale planting is being curbed. “No one has been given legal permission to grow poppy,” he stressed.

Local volunteers say the trade has trapped communities in a cycle of rising food prices. “People only started to grow poppy after the coup because it brings quick cash,” one aid worker explained. “But it hasn’t improved their lives. They now buy food at high prices instead of growing it themselves.”

Opium is attractive because it matures quickly—just three months to harvest—with relatively low costs and high profit margins. A UN Office on Drugs and Crime report found poppy cultivation in Karenni rose from nearly 1,300 acres in 2024 to about 1,550 acres last year, a 21 percent increase.

The KNDF’s pledge to eradicate poppy fields sets up a tense confrontation with farmers who see the crop as a lifeline. Whether the rebels can enforce their ban across the state remains uncertain, but the warning signals a tougher stance against a trade that has long tied Myanmar’s borderlands to the global narcotics economy.

-2025-02-14

Haven't these rebels got enough to deal with, without picking a fight with local farmers too?