Unseasonable rains or hailstorms, such as the one in March this year, can be the last nail in the coffin with disastrous consequences for the opium poppy crop
Opium is legally cultivated in only three states of India, viz. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, for medicinal and scientific purposes. Photo: Nishant Jain. My father-in-law told me March is one of the finest times to visit the Central Indian landscape. Why won’t it be? The landscape, adorned with the vivid Palash flowers (Butea monosperma, aka the flame of the forest), balmy weather marking the onset of the spring season, and exuberance of mature Rabi crop, mimic nature’s animation enough to invigorate any soul.
I was particularly inclined to visit the Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh in March 2023 to witness something that is practised very limitedly elsewhere, at least legally. The region is famous and occasionally notorious for its opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) cultivation. The region is bestowed with favourable weather conditions for cultivating the crop.
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Poppy is the source of opium gum that contains several medicinally important alkaloids, such as morphine, codeine and thebaine, frequently used as an analgesic, anti-tussive and anti-spasmodic in modern medicine. Morphine is known to be one of the best pain relievers in the world.
The dried pod of the plant (locally called dodachura) is mildly narcotic and is sometimes illegally sold in the black market at high prices. The pods, when crushed, provide poppy seeds (locally called khus khus, used as a spice in Indian kitchens) that currently fetch a high price in the market.
The cultivation of opium in India is highly regulated and monitored. It is legally cultivated in only three states of India, viz. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, for medicinal and scientific purposes.
The Centre issues licenses to farmers to cultivate opium poppy on strictly demarcated land parcels and ensures its complete buyback at designated rates depending on the weight and quality of the final product.
The crop is generally sown in November and harvested in March-April. Growing poppy is a time-consuming and labour-intensive process.
A lancing operation — by making an incision on the poppy pod using an instrument locally called nada — exudes a viscous substance with a high morphine content. Skilled workers perform this task during the day.
By the next morning, the exude semi-solidifies and is collected by scraping with a trowel (locally called charapla). Multiple lancing operations, usually three, can be undertaken on the same pod but with a declining quantity of latex.
The latex is dried to reduce the moisture content, post which the cultivators tender their opium to the Central Bureau of Narcotics through the procurement centres. I was fortunate enough to witness the process of lancing and latex collection on an opium farm and was fascinated by it, to say the least.
During my visit to the opium farm, I also perceived the many challenges that opium cultivators face. The crop is extremely susceptible to gusts of wind as the pods are heavier than the stems. Thus, the farmers pitch small poles to the ground that support ropes crisscrossing the entire field while providing scaffolding to the slender plants.
The crop is sometimes encircled with another tall crop (such as maize) that can act as a windbreak. I was also told that parrots have a strong liking for opium seeds and peck open the fruit whenever they get a chance. Reports of poppy addiction and the eventual death of parrots are often published. Hence, the crop is often covered with a net over it, once the pods are ready.
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Nilgais are another cause for concern. They have started invading the crop, but unlike parrots, they can trample and eat a large tract of the crop overnight. This has prompted the farmers to enclose the crop with an iron fence. All these additional costs burden the farmers.
Moreover, there is a constant fear of losing opium cultivation license. A farmer could lose their opium cultivation license if the weight of the opium produced is less than the per hectare norm set every year by the government (minimum qualifying yield). To add to the miseries, there is the stark difference in the rate offered by the government for opium procurement, ranging somewhere between Rs 850 to Rs 3,500 per kilogram (kg), depending on the quality vis-à-vis about Rs 100,000 per kg in the black market.
Unseasonable rains or hailstorms, such as the one in March this year, can be the last nail in the coffin with disastrous consequences for the crop. Farmers are left with no choice but to fight the long battle for compensation for their crop loss in such a case.
With so many variables to account for while cultivating opium poppy, it is unlikely that growing and trading poppy fairly will survive without additional support from the government. Procurement rates proportional to the efforts put in by the farmers and capacity building of farmers to deal with the various external risks will go a long way in ensuring that the cultivation of poppy remains legitimately lucrative for farmers.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
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