Exclusive: End Of Opium Poppy Cultivation In Manipur Soon? Satellite Imagery Data Shows.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi: 

The total area of opium poppy cultivation in violence-hit Manipur has declined 60 per cent since 2021, latest data from the autonomous government institution Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre shows.

This scientific institution under the planning department whose key work is to visualise geographic data had been mapping opium poppy cultivation across Manipur between September 2021 and January 2024, during the poppy-sowing and -harvesting seasons.

It used satellite imagery technology from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre, and the Landsat programme run jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The satellite imagery-based report by the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre (MARSAC) shows opium poppy cultivation area fell 40 per cent from 28,599 acres in 2021-22 to 16,890 acres in 2022-23. The area shrunk further by 32 per cent to 11,288 acres in 2023-24 from the previous year. In total, opium poppy cultivation area in Manipur fell 60 per cent in the three-year crop cycle period between 2021 and 2024.

MARSAC submitted the report to the Manipur government in early March, sources told NDTV. The report gave an empirical evidence to measure the “war on drugs” campaign of the state BJP government led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, they said. Mr Singh became Chief Minister in 2017, and won a second term in 2022.