Planting rice, sugarcane and rubber is being pushed as a good alternative to growing opium poppies, and in the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, more and more opium planters have accepted this new concept proposed by the Chinese government.  

Replacement planting is considered a great breakthrough by the United Nations in the anti-drug fight, which has become an important aspect of China's cooperation with neighboring Asian countries in drug control.

China has rooted out opium poppies on more than 620,000 mu (over 41,300 ha) in the Golden Triangle and helped local farmers to plant safe commercial crops, said Wang Qianrong, an official with the Drug Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Public Security.

The replacement scheme for the first time brought the poor farmers in the Golden Triangle stable income and made them capable of feeding themselves, said Wang. Some farmers who became addicted to the drug while harvesting poppy have started a new life.

Even though the Chinese government has dealt harsh blows to drug taking and trafficking, the number of drug-related crimes is still on the rise. Latest statistics show the number of drug-taking people has reached 1.05 million in China and 90 percent of the heroin brought into China came from the Golden Triangle area bordering southwest China.

In the 1990s, with support from the central government, southwest China's Yunnan Province, a major channel of drugs from the Golden Triangle area, began to implement the Green Drug Prevention Plan by replacing opium poppies with safe plants in major opium planting areas of neighboring countries.

"China teaches local farmers how to plant other crops and provide seedlings," said Wang. The action is aimed to let local farmers know that they would benefit more from replacement planting than from planting poppies.

Yunnan Lubao Industrial Development Co. Ltd. signed a contract on replacement planting involving 200,000 mu (over 13,300 ha) with Myanmar to help local farmers plant rice, corn, bananas and lemons and also purchase their products.

The output of bananas every mu could reach 2.5 to 3 tons and the farmers could earn 400 to 500 yuan (US$48-60) each mu, said Han Zheng, board director of the company. The output of lemons each mu could reach 2.5-4 tons and the average income of farmers is above 2,000 yuan (nearly US$242).

By contrast, opium poppy planting is affected by the market and the income is unstable and unsafe. "The huge profit of drugs is monopolized by drug traders, and farmers who live on this could not even earn enough for food," said Han.

More and more farmers have turned from opium poppy to safe crops. The area of poppy planting has reduced from more than 100,000 ha in 2001 to 62,000 ha in 2003.

Officials with the United States spoke highly of Yunnan's practice, saying that it has proved that replacement planting can be very successful and has become convincing evidence that the global anti-drug strategy made by the United Nations is effective.

China has invested heavily in replacement planting. It has cost 500 million yuan (US$60 million) in Yunnan Province alone.

The replacement planting in some regions is developing towards replacement construction. More investment has gone to improvement of road and traffic, water facilities, tourism, culture and education, said Zhang Huimin, an official from Yunnan Provincial Department of Public Security.

"But opium poppies are still the dominating plant in the Golden Triangle area and the fight against drugs will still take time to win," said Zhang.  

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2004)