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This is a controversial project, as in many cases the original Shan, Lahu and Akha inhabitants were forced out, and most of them have fled to Thailand.

 

Since 1998, UNODC has implemented an alternative development project in Mong Pawk District in Wa Special Region 2 to improve food security and create alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. According to UNODC, by early 2004 its coverage was limited to Mong Pawk District, targeting some 45,000 people—or less than 10 percent of the total population in the Kokang and Wa regions combined. In light of the humanitarian needs created by the opium ban, the UNODC/Wa project has now been expanded to cover the entire Wa region and has been extended through 2007. In order to address a potential crisis, the World Food Programme in August 2003 had already started to provide food assistance to ex-poppy farmers in Kokang and the northern Wa region.

 

Beyond its own activities, UNODC has worked since 2003 to expand assistance to the region by facilitating the access of other organizations to the Wa through the Kokang and Wa Initiative. The KOWI is an umbrella partnership that brings together international NGOs and UN agencies to help poppy farmers and their families meet basic human needs without the income derived from opium. In 2003 two international NGOs, Aide Medicale Internationale and Malteser Hilfsdienst, became the first KOWI partners to begin operations among the Wa, taking over the primary healthcare component of the UNODC/Wa project. By 2005, 18 partners were operating under the KOWI umbrella, each of them providing assistance in their field of expertise, while coordinating interventions to ensure coverage of priority areas and establish a more efficient method of delivering services.

 

The reversed sequencing of policy interventions, whereby the opium economy is eliminated before alternatives are in place, has created additional difficulties in the region. Conversely, the project, rather than gradually reducing opium dependence through alternative development efforts, in effect provides humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the opium ban. It is also clear that the assistance at present is insufficient to offset the impact of the opium bans and to cover basic needs of ex-opium farmers. One observer estimated in mid 2004 that food and economic security had been provided to no more than 10 percent of the population in the northern Wa region. Many of them already had serious difficulties in meeting their basic needs before the ban.

 

The latest harvest before the ban saw a substantial increase in opium cultivation in the northern Wa region, especially in places that were opium free during the last few years. Opium was grown, for instance, on the best available land and on terraces in full view of the town of Mong Mao. Some observers speculate that because this is the last chance to produce poppy crops before the ban, individuals among the Wa leadership may be involved in the recent increase in cultivation.

 

As the price of raw opium increases, next season’s production is likely to go up in other areas, creating a “balloon effect,” for example, in Kachin State, although in absolute terms the impact on the total opium production of Burma may be relatively small. Other places that could see an increase in cultivation include the area west of the Salween River—in Tangyan—as well as all conflict areas in Shan State. Furthermore, any heroin factories based in the Wa region could move to other areas capable of opium production.