148 00:01:01- 00:01:06 There is no other business like growing poppy that will earn enough money. This road leads to the heart of Burma’s opium industry. 00:01:07- 00:01:12 We don’t choose to do this. We dont have other options. Valley after verdant valley is covered with opium poppy. Nearly 25 percent of the world’s heroin starts here, scraped from the plant’s sticky sap. TITLE CARD: Relapse in the Golden Triangle In 2006, poppy production had been all but eliminated here in the heart of the golden triangle. Heralded by the United Nations as a major victory in the global war on drugs, it was a hopeful, yet hapless prediction. 10 years on, a toxic combination of civil war and poverty have driven farmers back to a crop with a seemingly unending market, feeding a growing global hunger for Heroin. HEROIN RESEARCHER For many of them, they see opium as a solution rather than a problem. Our research has shown that since 2006, opium cultivation in Myanmar has tripled again, showing that the optimism of 2006 that the end of the golden triangle was in site, I think was really completely unrealistic. Myanmar is back again as one of the major opium cultivation countries in the world. Farming poppies and harvesting opium are both illegal in Myanmar. But here in a rebel controlled area of southern Shan State, bordering China and Thailand, the industry runs with impunity. The ethnic Shan have long harvested poppy for medicinal value on a small scale. But now, its being used to escape poverty, and fund their fight for freedom from the central government. POPPY FARMER — 148 00:02:23 - 00:02:26 Almost everyone here is growing poppy now. 00:01:50- 00:01: 54 I switched to poppy farming because we had to work very hard to farm cigar leaves and we could not earn enough money from it. 00:01:55 - 00:01:59 Finally we ended up with loans with interests. Food security is a concern here amongst the villagers. Resources are scant. Villagers have no electricity or running water. Although poppy has not made them rich, it has kept food on their tables. -nat pop-pause- This is just one valley of poppy, surrounded by a sea of others. The U.N estimates that the 100 hectares of poppy in this one field, will eventually translate into 160 million dollars on the streets in the form of heroin. But each family here will only earn about $2000 from it, about three times more than if they had been growing vegetables. But it requires five times as much labor. Farmers face extortion from middlemen and have to pay unofficial taxes to local police, rebel groups and the Burmese government. 0049 00:03:52 - 00:03:55 There are many different armed groups who ask for money. 00:02:34- 00:02:41 We have to give money to everyone who carries a gun and asks for money. 00:03:56 - 00:04:11 Those groups are The Shan Army groups, two different groups from Pa’O the Government army and the police. The government, despite the corruption, has an official policy of identification and eradication. But researchers say the strategy, when enforced, often backfires. HEROIN RESEARCHER KRAMER First of all, of course, when you go into a village where people are relying on opium cultivation as their sole cash crop and you destroy it, it creates conflict with the villagers. It also creates very big livelihood problems for them because you drive them further into poverty. This is the cash crop they rely on — they have to buy rice with it. So if you eradicate it they don’t have that anymore. So it creates very serious problems. So these are the realities on the ground of eradication and we don’t believe it’s really having any significant impact on the cultivation levels of the country. DIP TO BLACK —> BACK TO WHERE MOVIE STARTED IN CAR A year ago, the road to this area didn’t exist, making access nearly impossible. But in attempt to help curb the booming poppy industry The United Nations carved this rugged path into the mountain landscape. They are working to create alternative livelihoods for farmers caught in the poverty and poppy cycle. Pop Quote from Jochen of him explaining coffee to villagers. “Its good to be here” Jochen Wiese arrived recently from Peru, where he spent 30-years transforming a landscape dominated by coca to coffee. He has similar plans here, but must first gain the farmers’ trust. Pop Quote 2 from Jochen of him explaining coffee to villagers. “Mr Miguel will ensure best seeds for coffee” While poppy can be planted (pause) and harvested only 4 months later, farmers must wait three years, with no income, for their first coffee yield. Pop Quote 3 from Jochen: The plants are nice UNODC So coffee is jus the first permant crops. Its one of the essential crops. What we will do with the farmers is that we treat them now, not as poor people. We have to help immediately with things they need, because they do have immediate food shortages. But we treat them as partners. We go to them and tell them “we want to work with you. We want you to leave poppy cultivation. We don’t condition you. But what you have to do with this long term concept — we want you as the family labor force. While the United Nations has convinced a small number in the community to begin growing coffee, there is still a question as to whether it will curb poppy or just move the problem to a different area. Man farmer in house 00:10:42 - 00:10: 47 We will have to work hard on planting coffee, however, we also plan to continue poppy farm while we are waiting for the outcome from coffee plantation. Man farmer in field 00:03:36 - 00:03:42 If we cannot earn enough money from coffee, we will need to grow the poppy again. 00:03:43 - 00:03:44 If we don’t do that, we will have no food eat. And even if Mr. Wiese is successful in his plans to convert the area into a budding coffee cooperative, experts warn that without curbing demand for heroin and creating peace in Myanmar’s jungles, the war on drugs will continue. For many of them, they see opium as a solution rather than a problem. In a higher level, it’s been very difficult to solve the drug problem if we don’t have peace in the country. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything now, we can start the development projects, which we really start to address the most urgent problems that we have. But without peace, it’s very hard to solve the drug problem. [00:15:53] FIN