ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, said on Thursday that the alarming increase in opium production in Afghanistan and Burma in 2007 is posing a serious threat to the progress made in drug control over the past several years.

Opium cultivation increased in both Afghanistan and Burma last year. Coupled with a high yield, especially in southern Afghanistan, this resulted in greater world output, Costa said after releasing the 2008 World Drug Report.

Like other drugs hotspots of the world, the areas in Burma which cultivate opium poppy are under very limited government control, Costa said. However it could be said that there is government involvement in allowing the opium trade through its borders, he said at a news briefing.

The 2008 World Drug Report noted that after six years of decline, opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia increased by 22 percent last year, mainly driven by a 29 percent increase in opium cultivation in Burma.

While some areas in Burma, such as the Wa region, remained opium poppy free, cultivation of opium in the troublesome eastern and southern areas of Shan State increased significantly, it said.

Of a total of 27,700 hectares (68,419 acres) of opium poppy cultivation in the entire country, Shan State alone accounted for as much as 25,400 hectares (62,738 acres). It is estimated that as many as 150,000 households in Shan State are involved in opium poppy cultivation—an increase of 24 percent from previous years.

Reports of poppy cultivation also came from Karenni and Kachin states. Referring to official Burmese data, the report said 3,598 hectares (8,887 acres) of poppy were eradicated last year and that the level of eradication varied from state to state.