Police in the southern Shan State township of Pinlaung say they eradicated more than 7,600 acres of poppy fields, or 95 percent of the local crop, in 2013, reports Mizzima. “We started destroying the crop in October, and got most of it while the plants were budding,” the report quoted local chief of police Maj Myint Thein as saying. Around 20 percent of the villages in the impoverished township, located 80 km southeast of Taunggyi, cultivate poppy, making it one of the chief sources of opium in the state. Farmers say they have no choice but to grow the lucrative crop due to the falling price of tea.
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