Myanmar has seen a decline of opium cultivation in 2019 to 33,100 hectares, which was over 11 per cent drop from 37,300 hectares in 2018, according to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2019 report released in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.
The survey was jointly conducted by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) of Myanmar and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and it has been carried out annually since 2001, together with collecting socioeconomic data of locals in opium cultivation areas.
At the report launching ceremony, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Maj-Gen Aung Thu said Myanmar’s opium cultivation and production continued dropping since 2014. The three consecutive years of decline were recorded from the 41,000 hectares in 2017 to 37,300 hectares in 2018 and to 33,100 hectares in 2019.
Moreover, the country’s total opium production dropped from 550 metric tons in 2017 to 520 metric tons in 2018 and 508 tons in 2019 respectively.
The Deputy Minister also said Myanmar’s opium production ranking dropped from the second largest opium producer to the third position.
The major opium cultivation areas in Myanmar were mountainous remote States of Shan, Kachin, Kayah and Chin, according to the survey.
The Deputy Minister added the government is implementing infrastructural and socioeconomic development programmes in fighting against opium cultivation and production in coordination with private business firms and international organizations. Mr Troels Vester, the Country Manager of UNODC, made a speech and Mr Jeremy Douglas, the Regional Representative of UNODC for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, explained the report.—MNA
(Translated by Aung Khin)
