Poppy fields forever in Shan south

A ceasefire group in southern Shan State has been issuing official permits to grow opium poppies to farmers since April, reports Kantarawaddy Times, an independent Karenni (Kayah) news group yesterday.

Chit Hpyu, township officer of Mawkmai for Shan Nationalities People Liberation Organization (SNPLO), popularly known as the "Red Pa-O" group, has been authorized to issue the papers.

Altogether 5 villages in Hsihseng township and 16 in Mawkmai township are dependent on poppy cultivation for their livelihood. The output per family ranges from 2 viss (3.2 kg) to 20 viss (32 kg).

Opium price, 280,000 kyat ($ 280) per viss during harvest time in February - March, has already bounced up to 300,000 ($ 300) by mid-year.

The Kantarawaddy piece coincides with an official police report on 18 July that poppy cultivation in Hopong, Panglawng and Pekhon (Faikhun), under the control of SNPLO's rival Pa-O National Organization, commonly known as "White Pa-O" group, had increased during the last poppy season, in spite of the ban in 2002.

According to UN and US figures, opium output in Burma has been steadily decreasing. Critics however say the figures have been excessively inflated and argue that poppy cultivation, on the contrary, has been mushrooming far and wide since the present regime took power in 1988.