Myanmar-US Combined Team Conducts
Ninth Opium Yield Survey towards Eradication of Narcotic Drugs

In accordance with the programme towards the eradication of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances being implemented in collaboration by the governments of Myanmar and the United States of America, a combined Myanmar - US team led by member of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) of Myanmar Brigadier General Kyaw Thein set out on 24 February 2003 and conducted an Opium Yield Survey till 3 March 2003 in Hopong Township in Shan State (South); in Mongpyin, Mongkhat, Mongpauk and Kyaintong townships in Shan State (East); in Kutkai and Kunlong townships and the Laukkai and 'Wa' regions in Shan State (North). The combined team visited far-flung, isolated and highly inaccessible regions by military helicopter to conduct a survey of illegal opium poppy cultivation plots and to gather poppy bulbs and poppy leaf samples as part of the survey. The team also interviewed the poppy farmers in the respective regions and inspected opium poppy cultivation plots that had been destroyed.

During their tour, the team visited the Special Region No: 2 of the 'Wa' region in Shan State (East) and observed the Wan Hon Agriculture Farm, the Loi Hsanhson Opium Hill coffee plantation and tea plantation. Their tour of observation also included a visit to the Kyaintong-Mongzin Pig Farm and Feed Factory as well as the 'Wa' Alternative Development Project -(WADP) being undertaken by the United Nations Office on Drug Control and Crime (UNODC) in the Mongphyan region. Next on the itinerary were the Lonhtan Tin Processing Factory, the opium substitute tea cultivation plot in Mongmaw Region, the Granite Factory, tea factory, the Longan, lychee, and mango orchards and the opium substitute soy bean cultivation plot and other development projects being carried out in Shan State (North) No: 2 Special Region.

The team also went on a tour  of the Lashio Coffee Nursery and Plantation,   the   Model Pig and Poultry  Farm , the Distribution of High quality Bonmon Hsin Shweli corn seeds, the apiculture farm, and the Naungmon honey orange orchard being implemented    under   the   sponsorship  of   the  North-Eastern Military Command. The next stop was the No: 1 Special Region of  Laukkai   in   Shan   State  (North).   Here   they   made   an observation tour  of the Anti-Narcotic  Drug Museum, substitute cultivation of mango and orange orchards, livestock breeding for alternative  development  and  other endeavours  being made for regional  development  and narcotic drug control. The team then proceeded to the Kaungkha Special Region No: 5 in Shan State (North).

The team inspected the ongoing work in the cultivation of tea as an opium substitute crop and the hilltop terrace cultivation project as well as the substitute crop cultivation of wheat, green peas, lentils, Chinese lablab beans and soy bean. They also met and held discussions with regional leaders of the national races. The combined team next met with those responsible for cultivation of opium substitute crops, the substitution of livestock breeding, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts and drug interdiction and held detailed discussions. The members of the team were especially interested in the Fifteen Year Plan for the Elimination of Narcotic Drugs with particular focus on the substitution crop and livestock breeding programmes now being implemented in the first five years of the Plan in Shan State (North). They were especially interested on the New Destiny Project and asked detailed questions about it.

The Ninth Opium Yield Survey, was headed by Steven Suddaby on the American side of the team and members included officials of the US Department of State, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Department of Agriculture and responsible officials of the US Embassy in Yangon.

The combined Myanmar-US Opium Yield Survey was first initiated in 1993 and has been regularly held every year since then. According to reports issued by the US government as well as according to the findings of the annual Base Line Data Survey begun on Myanmar's own initiative in 1998, both the area under opium poppy cultivation and production of opium have consecutively fallen at a significant rate since 1997. It is also a fact that in this years current opium poppy cultivation season the area under opium poppy cultivation had fallen drastically due to the government's New Destiny Project. Moreover during the current tour it was seen that there was not a trace of any opium poppy cultivation west of the Thanlwin River in Shan State (North) and in the Kokang Region. Accordingly it can thus be forecast realistically that that there will be an additional decrease of 50% in opium production as against the production of the previous year.

The Opium Yield Survey carried out in collaboration by the governments of Myanmar and the United States of America is the ninth such survey. A comparison of the resulting data collected from the previous years' surveys as well as their satellite imageries with the data that results from the current survey of 2003 and satellite imageries, will show an enormous difference; that the area of land under opium cultivation and the production of opium have both fallen considerably. The comparisons will show unmistakably there has been a vast improvement especially in Shan State (North) region.