Opium prices increase 100 fold in Kayah

At least 3 of the 7 townships in Kayah, also known as Karenni, once foreign to the poppy culture, have become dependent on it since Burma’s present military leadership took power in 1988, according to a recent report by an independent data collecting team.

“Ten years ago, I was paid 300 kyat ($3) per viss (1.6 kg),” Tu Reh, a villager in Loikaw township, told border-based Karenni Anti-Drug Action Committee. “But now they are offering 280,000 ($280)  300,000 kyat ($300).”

The exchange rate, 100 kyat to the dollar ten years ago, is hovering around 1,000 kyat today.

The KADAC team that returned to the border after a 3-month tour to the Shan-Karenni border found Loikaw, Demawso and Pruso townships becoming major opium producers. “Our village output alone is at least 300 viss (480kg),” boasts Tu Reh.

Official interference, sources claim, has been minimal. Only unproductive fields are destroyed as evidence, not unlike townships in Shan State. “They even advise us not to grow close to the roads,” said another villager, Soe Reh.

Opium tax is paid to the local Burma Army units through the ceasefire groups. “When there are buyers, we pay in kind,” said one. “But when there are no buyers, we pay cash.”

The team also observed that all 4 Shan townships next to Kayah State, namely, Pekhon (Faikhun) Hsihseng, Mawkmai and Homong also produce poppies. Four refineries, operated by ethnic Chinese, are under the protection of local ceasefire groups and Burma Army units.

The ceasefire groups that are operating in the Shan-Kayah border areas are identified as Pa-O National Army (“White Pa-O”), Shan Nationalities People Liberation Organization (“Red Pa-O”) and Karenni Nationalities People Liberation Front.