Pekon, Myanmar – – The displaced farmer Aung HLA, Aung HLA, describes the anesthetics as his only view in a country that was made by conflicts.
The 35-year-old was a rice builder when the Junta conquered power in a coup in 2021 and added the long-term bourgeois conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups Pro-Democracy guerrillas.
Four years later, the United Nations announced that myanmar in a “poly crisis” of mutually composed conflicts, poverty and environmental damage.
Mr. Aung Hla was forced by his country in Moe bye village by fighting for the coup.
When he moved, his usual harvest was no longer profitable, but the Hardy Poppy promised “just enough for a living”.
“Everyone believes that people grow poppy flowers to be rich, but we only strive to get through,” he said in the rural community of Pekon in the state of Eastern Shan.
Mr. Aung HLA says that he regrets that the substance – the core ingredient in heroin – has been expanded, but income is the only thing that separates him from hunger.
“If someone were in my shoes, they would probably do the same.”
Driven out and desperate
Myanmar's opium production was previously only the second largest of Afghanistan, where terrorist attacks in New York flourished after the invasion of the USA after September 11, 2001.
But after the Taliban government had started a procedure, according to the UN drug and crime (UNODC) Afghanistan, Myanmar overtook the world as the largest opium producer in 2023.
Myanmar's opiative industry, including the value of domestic consumption and from abroad, is estimated at UNODC at $ 589 million (785 million s $) and $ 1.57 billion.
Between September and February of each year, dozens of workers work in Pekon's fields and cut incorrect poppy seed capsules that close a small amount of sticky brown resin.
Mr. Aung Naing, 48, carefully transfers the collected resin from a small trough to a leaf plate.
In front of the coup, which ended a short experiment with democracy, Aung Naing was a reformed opium farmer. But the difficulty of the war forced him back to harvest.
“There is more poppy growth due to difficulties in living the residents,” he said.
A farmer who extracts the poppy floral juice on an illegal poppy seed field in the municipality of Pekon in the state of Eastern Shan.Photo: AFP
“Most farmers who plant poppy are driven out,” he said. “Residents who do not live in their villages and have fled into the jungle work in poppy fields.”
In Myanmar's fringe, ethnic armed groups, border militias and the military take care of the control of local resources and lucrative drug trafficking.
Mr. Aung Naing said that Poppy earns a slightly higher profit than food cultures such as corn, bean curd and potatoes, which are also susceptible to diseases when rain.
Fresh opium was generally sold by Myanmar farmers for just more than 300 US dollars per kilogram in 2024.
And the harvest is more expensive to produce as rice work-intensive and requires expensive fertilizers and with small yields.
Mr. Aung Naing said he was just a profit of $ 30 for each kilogram.
“How can we get rich from it?” he said.
'Unsure'
The UN office for coordinating humanitarian affairs estimates that more than 3.5 million people are sold in Myanmar.
However, the escape of conflict zones to the Farm opium does not guarantee security.
“Military hunters Jets are flying over us,” said Aung Naing. “We work with fear and fear in poppy fields. We feel insecure. “
According to the UNODC, opium cultivation and production in Myanmar took back slightly between 2023 and 2024 – partly due to the continuing clashes between armed groups.
Farmer Shwe Khine, 43, said: “If our country were in peace and there were industries that offer many employment opportunities in the region, we would not plant poppy fields, even if we asked for it.”
Mr. Aung Hla agreed. With the war he said: “We have no choice.” AFP
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