Thai opium crop substitution program in Burma hits problems

A Thai project under royal patronage to wean farmers in Burma's Shan State away from opium production is encountering problems because of political changes in Rangoon.

Since the fall of prime minister and military intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt, staff of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation in northern Thailand have been denied direct access to the project, known as Doi Tung 2, established at Yong Kha in southeastern Shan State. Project staff say the four-year-old crop substitution project is still functioning, but with local supervision.

Yong Kha is administered by Bao Yuxiang’s United Wa State Army, and well-informed sources confirm that two battalions of the 171st Division UWSA-South have recently taken up positions there.

The presence of Wa troops in the area of the Yong Kha project leaves the Mae Fah Luang Foundation in something of a quandary. DT2’s accomplishments could be seen to inadvertently lend legitimacy to the UWSA, one of the world’s largest narco-militias. The UWSA could conceivably hijack DT2’s success story, using it to demonstrate they are indeed intent on kicking old habits.

The success of DT2 should be assured if it follows the successful formula adopted by the first Doi Tung development project, DT1, the crop substitution and community development initiative launched by the Mae Fah Luang Foundation on Doi Tung, an upland area of Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai Province. DT1 is credited with contributing greatly to the virtual eradication of poppy-growing in Thailand, which was finally removed from the UN list of opium producing nations in 2004.

DT1 is not only a crop-substitution program but, in the words of Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon, “provides alternative employment opportunities, vocational training, education and health services...and the promotion of self-sufficiency.” It’s credited with weaning more than 11,000 hill tribe villagers away from poppy cultivation and increasing their incomes eightfold.

The alternative crops grown by the hill tribe farmers—­coffee, tea, macadamia nuts, rare fruits—­“have been a big hit among the urban middle class,” says Foreign Minister Kantathi.

Using the DT2 model, the Mae Fah Luang Foundation has now embarked on a crop-substitution program in Afghanistan—Doi Tung 3, dubbed Project Afghanistan.  The ambitious plan was officially launched last month at a conference at Doi Tung, hosted by Kantathi and attended by Afghanistan’s deputy minister of rural rehabilitation Mohammed Eshan Zia, the executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, Thailand’s Royal Projects CEO Prince Disnadda Diskul, the Belgian ambassador to Thailand and delegates from Indonesia.

After showing impressive statistical evidence of opium reduction in Burma’s Shan State, Maria Costa said: “We are indeed reaching a closure of the very tragic chapter of poppy cultivation in this part of the world.”  There was concern, however, that synthetic narcotics production is taking opium’s place.

Poppy growers in Afghanistan were also filling the gap left by falling Burmese production, and Afghanistan has now replaced Burma as the world’s leading producer of the narcotic, according to Maria Costa. In early March, a team of Afghan delegates, Thai and other foreign consultants traveled to Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province to assess what needs to be done to launch DT3 there. The US $830,000 project is being funded by Belgium, whose ambassador conceded: “The road ahead won’t be easy.”

The challenge in Afghanistan is far greater than Thailand or Burma faced. According to UNODC figures, opium production in Afghanistan last year yielded 4,100 tonnes, at least 25 times the amount produced in Thailand when the Mae Fah Luang Foundation began its work there 18 years ago. Production in Burma in 2005 amounted to 312 tonnes.

Compounding DT3’s challenge are the huge security risks involved. Afghanistan outside Kabul is still a very dangerous place, roamed by Taliban remnants, terrorists and drug barons. The problems the Mae Fah Luang Foundation is encountering with its D2 project in Shan State may pale beside the potential hazards of DT3.