‘We do this to survive’: Harvesting opium poppies in Myanmar’s Shan State

Poppy cultivation and methamphetamine production has surged in Myanmar amid the country’s grinding civil war.

Displaced civilians turn reluctant opium farmers in Myanmar

Southern Shan State, Myanmar – Tian Win Nang squats on the hard-packed earth, balancing a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of chocolate-coloured raw opium in each hand like a human weighing scales.

“Each kilogramme is worth around $250,” said Tian Win Nang, wearing worn white flip-flops and a black T-shirt.

The son of poppy farmers, Tian Win Nang appears to be barely out of his teens.