Opium production of opium in India

Opium poppy cultivation and production of opium in Arunachal Pradesh, India (2014).

ENG: Photos of opium poppy cultivation and production of opium in Arunachal Pradesh, India.

FR: Photos de la culture du pavot à opium et de la production d’opium en Arunachal Pradesh, Inde.

The remote and isolated state of Arunachal Pradesh, located in northeast India, on the borders of Bhutan, China (Tibet) and Burma, is an important source of illegal opium. Illegal poppy cultivation has long existed there, but is likely to have largely increased in the last decade, especially in the northernmost part of the state, in the Anjaw and Lohit districts.

Most of the opium that is now produced in Arunachal Pradesh comes from the Lohit district where the Miju Mishmi are concentrated and predominantly involved in poppy cultivation. It also comes, although in much smaller volumes, from the more mountainous Anjaw district that is mostly inhabited by the Digaru Mishmi. It must be stressed, though, that other ethnic groups, including the Khamti and the Singpho, resort to commercial opium production in the region (Lohit district) but apparently to a much lesser extent than the Mishmi (personal observations and interviews with opium farmers, 2012).

Poppy seeds are broadcast by the Mishmi in late October and November on the well-pulverised soil of new fields. Opium is harvested from ripe poppy capsules from February to April, depending on latitude and altitude. Opium is mostly collected by lancing the capsules with razor blades and by scraping the capsules with one’s fingers. Capsules also can be rubbed off with small pieces of cloth (until impregnated with opium) most often made of nettle fiber. Nettle cloth is no longer spun and woven to make clothes but only to store and sell opium (personal observations and interview with weaver, 2014). It is impregnated with opium at harvest and then sold at is it, either shredded and incorporated into a smoking mixture, or soaked in water so that the opium can be retrieved and mixed with minced young banana leaf. A bamboo water pipe of the bong type is then used to smoke the opium and banana leaf mixture (in nineteenth century Assam betel leaves were preferred), although opium can also be ingurgitated by mixing it with tea (personal observations and interviews with opium smokers, 2012 and 2014).

Excerpt from Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy, 2014, Illegal Opium Production in the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh, India, European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, Autumn-Winter 2014, n° 45, pp. 9-32 (61 500 signes). PDF Full Text.