Myanmar authorities destroy opium poppy in Kengtung

01/03/2025 19:00

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Phyo (NP News) - March 1

The Ministry of Home Affairs reported that more than eight acres of poppy fields in Kengtung Township have been destroyed.
On February 20, 2025, a joint team of police officers from Kengtung Township, eastern Shan State, and local military personnel destroyed three acres of poppy fields having about two and a half feet high, located approximately one mile east of Phal­iant Village, Mong Pan Le Village Tract, Kengtung Township, and five and a half acres of poppy fields with about one foot high, which locates in two miles east of Mongpanouk Village.
On February 15, officials visited and destroyed poppy planta­tions in Hsihseng Township and Pa-O self-administered zone located in southern Shan State, and were able to destroy 30 acres of poppy plantations.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has announced that Shan State will remain the largest opium-growing region in Myanmar through 2024.
Shan State remains the most significant region, accounting for 88 percent of the country's total opium cultivation, and opium cultivation increased by 10 percent in northern Shan State and eastern Shan State, which borders Laos and Thailand, although cultivation decreased slightly, according to the UNODC.–