SE-ASIA-opium-poppy-2014-web

Regional Overview
Opium cultivation and poverty
The link between poverty, a lack of alternative livelihood options and the decision to cultivate
poppy is clear. The majority of respondents to the 2014 socio‐economic survey in Myanmar
described the need to provide for basic necessities, such as food, education and housing, as a
reason for cultivating opium poppy. The difficulties involved in the cultivation of crops other than
opium poppy, and the barriers to transporting goods to market, mean that villagers in remote
areas have limited options for earning alternative income.
In Lao PDR, no socio‐economic survey of poppy‐growing villages has been conducted in recent
years. However, the data collected during helicopter flights and satellite image analysis indicated
that poppy cultivation in 2014 also continued to be a phenomenon linked to villages in
peripheral, difficult‐to‐access locations, far from population and market centres.
Efforts to stimulate alternative development may have the best potential for reducing the
incentive to cultivate opium poppy. But as poppy cultivation in both Myanmar and Lao PDR
mainly occurs in remote areas, such efforts not only need to provide the same financial benefits
as opium cultivation, but also to address transportation issues such as the difficulty of moving
licit crops from field to market.
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