In the middle of a field filled with bright red poppies, Afghans frolic among the spring flowers in a tradition deeply rooted in the country's north.
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Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the world's largest producer of opium in 2023
Farmers say they have little alternative to poppy cultivation in the wake of Myanmar's 2021 coup
Between September and February each year, dozens of workers toil in Pekon's fields
Poppy farming earns Myanmar's farmers only slightly more profit than food crops like corn
Fresh opium is generally sold by Myanmar farmers for just over $300 per kilo, a small fraction of what it fetches on the international black market
Infographic map showing poppy cultivation density in Myanmar, 2022-2024 data, in hectares per km2.
Scraping opium resin off a seedpod in Myanmar's remote poppy fields, displaced farmer Aung Hla describes the narcotic crop as his only prospec…