Imagery shows dip in poppy cultivation
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Imp/Ghy/N Delhi, Apr 14
The total area of 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.
The report factored in 19,135 acres of opium poppy cultivation that the State Government had destroyed between 2017 and 2024, MARSAC said in the document titled 'Mapping and Estimation of Opium Poppy Cultivation Area in Manipur'.
MARSAC did not give a break-up, however, of what factors could have led to a shrinking opium poppy cultivation area in Manipur. Senior officers in the Forest Department, and the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) indicated the sustained drive to stop opium poppy cultivation in the past seven years definitely had an effect.
MARSAC said the best season to plant and harvest opium poppy is from September to February. Sometimes, the harvest extends till March-end.
"We usually acquire the LISS-IV satellite imagery from ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre for first week of September, second week of October, first week of December, and second week of February," MARSAC said in the report, referring to the home-grown high-resolution camera LISS-IV - launched onboard the Resourcesat-1 satellite by ISRO in 2003 - to gather data on vegetation, landforms, and geological boundaries.
During the survey from September 2021 sowing to the February 2022 harvest seasons, MARSAC found 111 poppy cultivation clusters in eight out of Manipur's 16 districts - or 50 per cent of districts in Manipur grew opium poppy. NDTV
The total area of 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.
The report factored in 19,135 acres of opium poppy cultivation that the State Government had destroyed between 2017 and 2024, MARSAC said in the document titled 'Mapping and Estimation of Opium Poppy Cultivation Area in Manipur'.
MARSAC did not give a break-up, however, of what factors could have led to a shrinking opium poppy cultivation area in Manipur. Senior officers in the Forest Department, and the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) indicated the sustained drive to stop opium poppy cultivation in the past seven years definitely had an effect.
MARSAC said the best season to plant and harvest opium poppy is from September to February. Sometimes, the harvest extends till March-end.
"We usually acquire the LISS-IV satellite imagery from ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre for first week of September, second week of October, first week of December, and second week of February," MARSAC said in the report, referring to the home-grown high-resolution camera LISS-IV - launched onboard the Resourcesat-1 satellite by ISRO in 2003 - to gather data on vegetation, landforms, and geological boundaries.
During the survey from September 2021 sowing to the February 2022 harvest seasons, MARSAC found 111 poppy cultivation clusters in eight out of Manipur's 16 districts - or 50 per cent of districts in Manipur grew opium poppy. NDTV