Central govt opens doors for private players in opium cultivation

The move to privatise opium cultivation is estimated to bring in modern technology, increase yield for extraction of narcotic substances, like morphine, codeine and thebaine, and most importantly, cut down illicit diversion.

Poppy straw (left) after removal of opium and seeds. (Photo: Avriette/Wikipedia)

In a first, the government has taken steps to privatise opium cultivation in the country on a trial phase for two years after awarding two pharmaceutical companies licence to use concentrated poppy straw (CPS) technology for extraction. The move to privatise opium cultivation is estimated to bring in modern technology, increase yield for extraction of narcotic substances, like morphine, codeine and thebaine, and most importantly, cut down illicit diversion.

In the trial phase, from October 2017 to 2019, an area of two hectares has been allocated to Rusan Pharma Ltd and Embio limited in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. India is one of the few countries that grows opium legally and produces opium gum. The produce is taken to Government Opium and Alkaloid Works (GOAW) in Ghazipur and Neemuch where opium is dried for export and alkaloid is extracted to be sold to pharmaceutical companies.

“The first produce under the trial phase was just harvested. By improving the seed quality, and installing mechanised extraction technique, we hope to generate better produce,” said Dr Kunal Saxena, the managing director at Rusan Pharma.

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India has seen a steady decline in opium cultivation, from 12,092 hectares in 2012, the harvested area reduced to 5,433 hectares in 2015 and 1,050 hectares in 2016, data from the International Narcotics Control board shows. Under the trial licence, Rusan and Embio will become the first private players to legally purchase the opium produce from farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, extract alkaloids and surrender theose to the government. Currently, India imports 20 metric tonnes of codeine, extracted from opium, to satisfy annual demands of 60 metric tonnes. With the concentrated poppy straw system, the yield is expected to increase from the existing cultivation. A 2017 report of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that thebaine yield increased slightly from three to four tons from 2014 to 2015.

“After two years, we will study the increase in produce, whether the quality in mechanised harvesting gives more produce and then decide whether to increase land under cultivation. The ministry, every year, assesses the demand of opium and fixes land under cultivation,” an official from the Department of Revenue, Union Finance Ministry, said.

“Apart from increasing yield, the government also needs to expand the number of factories that process opium. Currently, alkaloids are extracted from just two factories in India. Demand is much higher,” said Dr Mary Muckaden, professor of palliative care at Tata Memorial hospital, Mumbai.

Opium processing has been opened up to the private sector in the past but it found no bidders due to the terms and conditions laid down by the government. Currently, farmers manually lance opium pods to extract gum and sell it to government factories.

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Under the trial phase, a mechanised system called concentrated poppy straw (CPS), a technology still new in India, would be used. The entire harvest will be cut by machine and transferred to alkaloid factories.

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