Myanmar farmers return to cultivating poppy amid few options

Bang Laem, Myanmar

A DECADE ago, Myanmar seemed on course to wipe out the opium fields and heroin jungle labs along its eastern border, the notorious Golden Triangle. Today, valley after valley in these mist-shrouded mountains are covered with resplendent opium poppies, tended by farmers who perch on steep hillsides to harvest the plant's sticky, intoxicating sap.

Poppy cultivation in Myanmar has nearly tripled since 2006, reaching close to 150,000 acres (60,700 hectares), according to surveys carried out by the United Nations. Yet even that steep rise fails to capture the full extent of Myanmar's resurgence as a major player in the global heroin business. Over the past few years, an increasing number of farmers here have produced two opium crops a year, experts say; the second crop is not included in the UN surveys.