Lieutenant Colonel Tint Khine of the Light Infantry Battalion (269) stationed in Cikha town, Chin state and village heads from Cikha headed the poppy cultivation project on the hillside in remotes areas in northwestern parts of Burma.

In September 2006, the Lieutenant Colonel started poppy cultivation and villagers from the surrounding villages of Cikha were ordered to grow poppy in one acre each in their respective areas.

The villagers into poppy cultivation project by are Thuambual, Sainam, Anlum, Len Na Kawp, Kel Mual, Suang Hoih, Khua Mun Sersih and Lungtak villages in Cikha, according to a source in Chin state.

"Access to places where poppy is grown is strictly prohibited by the Burma Army. They don't allow outsiders to pass by poppy farms", said the local.

The authorities are likely to set up a factory in Khenman village near Cikha where the poppy will be processed into raw opium, a local from Cikha said.

Even now in Sersih and Lungtak villages the villagers are cropping the cultivated poppy. But the quantity of poppy collected could not be established as a lot of soldiers are guarding the areas.

Military authorities and village heads inspect poppy farms once in three months. Soldiers from LIB (269) are deployed in the areas surrounding the poppy farms for security.

Some people who reside in remote areas in Tonzang and Cikha have been into small scale of poppy cultivation since Ne Win's military coup in 1962.

"Cultivating poppy is the only option for some people in those areas for supporting their families and to educate their children. The places where they live is not so fertile and other crops can hardly be grown," said a local from Tonzang in exile.

"It is incredible that the government is also involved in poppy farming activities," he added.

The ruling junta is engaged in poppy cultivation and production in Chin state and Sagaing division while even though the SPDC announced that they are actively involved in the world community's campaign against poppy cultivation and production in the region.

The 2007 World Drug report of the United Nation office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated that poppy cultivation and production had decreased to 21,500 hectares and 337 tons in 2006 from 155,150 hectares and around 1,676 tons of opium in 1997 reflecting the efforts of the Burmese junta to eradicate poppy cultivation and production in a decade.

Moreover, some rebel groups from Manipur, northeast India fighting the central government from Burmese soil also are also allegedly into poppy cultivation and production in the dense forests in Cikha, source in Burma said.

After a military coup in 1988, wide spread poppy cultivation was resorted to mostly in remote areas of Kalay in Sagaing division, Cikha, Tonzang and Tedim in Chin state, Burma. – Khonumthung.