Opium poppy cultivation rises 22 percent in Southeast Asia - UN report

Opium poppy cultivation rises 22 percent in Southeast Asia - UN report

2010-12-14 20:24:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- Opium poppy cultivation surged by approximately 22 percent in South-East Asia during the current year, a new United Nations (UN) report said.

According to the report, the rise in cultivation was for the majority due to the global economic crisis, with potential production value rising dramatically to $219 million, a $100 million increase over 2009.

"Poverty and instability are two of the drivers which push farmers to grow, or sometimes return to growing, illicit crops," UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yury Fedotov said of his agency's 2010 South-East Asia Opium Survey, which covers Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.

While progress has been made in reducing poppy fields over the past decade, the recent global economic crisis appears to have exacerbated the situation for poor communities and tempted many to enter the drug market.

In addition, the rising price of opium over the last few years has also been instrumental in making its cultivation an attractive option for many. In terms of cultivation, there was a 22 percent increase between 2009 and 2010 in the region as a whole.

Myanmar experienced the biggest increase in actual area with cultivation shooting up by 6,400 hectares (ha), or 20 percent, to reach 38,100 ha. In Laos, the increase was the largest in percentage terms, 58 percent, increasing from 1,900 ha to 3,000 ha. Thailand's small cultivation increased marginally from 211 ha to 289 ha.

While poppy cultivation in South-East Asia remains well below the peak figures of the mid-1990s, when it hovered around 160,000 ha, the year-on-year increase over the past four years has been relentlessly upward, the survey shows.

"While Governments have increased their eradication efforts, the potential opium production in 2010 is estimated to have increased by approximately 75 percent when compared to 2009," Fedotov said.

Beyond the overall larger areas cultivated in all three countries, yields in Myanmar shot up from 330 tons to 580 tons, levels in Laos rose by 7 tons to 18 tons and in Thailand they increased by 36 percent from 3 tons to 5 tons.

In terms of eradication 9,135 ha of poppy fields in the region were destroyed this year, up by 85 percent from 4,939 ha the previous year.

At country-level, the authorities in Myanmar cleared an estimated 8,268 ha, a 102 percent rise from 2009. Eradication efforts in Laos dipped by 11 percent from 651 ha to 579 ha, while Thailand succeeded in removing 278 ha compared with the 2009 level of 201 ha.

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