Opium Poppy in Manipur: A history and the present struggle

Chongboi Haokip, MCI Hort
I feel nostalgic as I went through this note, recalling many precious lives lost due to heroin (No. 4) in Manipur. I used to wonder why it was called No. 4. By the way, for those unaware, heroin is a processed form of morphine. When traffickers continue refining heroin base using chemical solvents and acids, they produce a white powder with high purity. This purified white heroin is called ‘Heroin No. 4’. It is the fourth stage in the production line, producers and traffickers use the number to separate it from lower-grade products like No. 3 brown heroin.
Manipur’s hills have shifted from food crops to widespread poppy cultivation, while the valley has seen the rise of production units. Kaani (opium) farms offer income for low-income families but pull communities into conflict with police and security forces.
The area now sits at the centre of India’s narcotics fight. Understanding how Manipur arrived at this crisis requires looking back centuries, to when opium first took root in South Asia.
The Deep Roots of Opium in South Asia
Opium has played a long role in South Asia. The plant that provides opium, Papaver somniferum, likely became domesticated thousands of years ago; extracts from it have been used by humans for pain relief and sedation for millennia (Rogers Nov 2025).
By the 15th century, parts of India - including regions such as Khambhat and Malwa-documented the cultivation of opium poppy. Under the later Mughal Empire, cultivation spread more widely and became a regular crop – Dept of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Govt of India (No date).
From medicinal origins, opium use in South Asia gradually changed over time. Under the rule of the British East India Company, and later direct colonial administration, opium cultivation and trade became tightly controlled and systematic. Indian opium became a major export commodity, especially to markets such as China (Britannica Editors Oct 2025). During its colonial peak, the trade of opium from India provided a substantial share of colonial revenues and shaped local agrarian economies – Lehne 2018.
North East India’s Distinct Role
Opium entered Assam during the seventeenth-century Mughal invasions and remained limited to wealthy users until the mid-eighteenth century. British authorities expanded their use by stopping local poppy cultivation and pushing Government opium through licensed vendors, which increased revenue – Chetry 2016. The region functioned more as a transit corridor and market on the periphery of the larger opium economies in Bengal and Burma (Gupta 2020).
Manipur occupied a particularly strategic position on this frontier. The State had long-standing trade connections with Burma and Yunnan, both significant opium-producing regions (UNODC 2001). Manipur sits on a key corridor that links the Golden Triangle to South Asia. Security pressure on other routes pushed more traffic through the State. The situation changed : smuggling shifted from transit activity to local production. The shift turns Manipur into a source region for the trade, not only a passage.
Manipur’s Poppy Shift : From Transit to Hub
Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre mapped poppy cultivation across multiple hill districts (The Times of India Dec 3, 2024).  According to various reports, farmers’ choices show a clear economic logic. Many households grow kaani because it yields higher income per acre, provides quick payment, and attracts buyers who travel to their villages.
Researchers describe a steady shift from a trafficking corridor to a drug-producing State, with the fast expansion of poppy fields in hill areas during the past fifteen years (Hohoi 2025; Kipgen 2019; TNI 2021, 43). Growers often report poppy cultivation as their only viable means of paying for education, healthcare, and debt servicing (Sangpui and Kapngaihlian 2021). Across the border in Myanmar, instability and weak authority allowed poppy cultivation to expand in conflict zones, and armed actors taxed and protected the trade for revenue (Kramer 2015).
Earlier periods show trafficking and heroin use as the main problems inside the State. Heroin use grew in the late 1970s and 1980s and drove a severe HIV outbreak (Sida 2004 ; Oinam 2008). Reports also describe Manipur as a key transit corridor for Golden Triangle drugs during these years (Phanjoubam April 2023 ; Pattanaik 2023).
No Corner of Manipur Untouched
Because the crop is illegal in most parts of Manipur, official data on ‘first planting’ is sparse; most documentation comes from seizure and destruction records. The ‘early 2000s’ rise corresponds with social, economic, and enforcement changes: shifting border dynamics with Myanmar and declining traditional incomes.
The establishment of processing units and expanded networks in that period increased demand and incentivised cultivation. Every community is affected in some way. There is cultivation in the hills. In the valley, processing units have been established adjoining the hill areas. ‘The processing units  (of brown sugar) are mainly in the valley’ – Chakrabarti April 2024. No Manipuri can remain untouched by this issue; as it affects each of us, directly or indirectly.
The ‘War on Drugs’ Campaign
State authorities began framing the proliferation of poppy as a critical security and environmental threat, linking it to deforestation, insurgent financing, and rising drug addiction among Manipur youth. This framing provided the foundation for the ‘War on Drugs’ launched under our former Chief Minister N Biren Singh in 2018–Sangpui ‘Kapngaihlian 2021.’
Satellite imagery from the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre shows the cultivated area dropped from 28,599 acres in 2021 to 16,890 acres in 2022, a 40 percent decline. The area fell again to 11,288 acres in 2023, a 32 percent drop from the previous year. The State recorded a total reduction of about 60 percent across the three crop cycles from 2021 to 2024 - Achom April 2024. The Hans India Nov 25, 2025; Banerjee Oct 3, 2024 - Eradication efforts continued, as there is still work to be done. Through late 2025, security forces reported clearing new poppy fields. As per Government data reports, massive acres were removed along with signifi- cant seizures of heroin, methamphetamine, and other narcotics.
Lessons and the Path Forward
Manipur faces a mixed picture. Total poppy cultivation has dropped from earlier highs, yet 2025 operations show that illicit fields still exist. Several critical lessons emerge from this history:
Economic alternatives must be real, not rhetorical : Enforcement alone will not stop opium cultivation when farmers lack other viable income options. A shift away from poppy needs better infrastructure, stronger market access, active farm support services, and reliable financial support that makes legal crops competitive with opium.
Target the system, not just the symptoms : Targeting only small farmers while financiers and traffickers face no consequen- ces weakens justice and weakens results. Ending the drug economy needs action against the networks that drive trafficking.
Address the ethnic and political dimensions: Successful opium poppy eradication efforts depend on collaborative problem-solving, community centred to avoid resentment and resistance. Solutions require genuine participation from affected communities in designing sustainable alternative livelihoods.
Regional cooperation is essential: As a neighbouring country, instability in Myanmar directly affects Manipur. Without coordinated cross-border efforts to address production and trafficking in Myanmar’s conflict zones, pressure will continue to push cultivation into peripheral areas.
Reflective moment !
The long arc from early medical use to the modern War on Drugs shows how opium in South Asia developed under the influence of imperial trade, geopolitical conflict, economic exclusion, and State authority.
Manipur’s struggle represents the latest chapter in this long story. Meaningful progress depends not on force alone, but on engaging all communities as we are all affected in one way or another. We need a change of heart for a lasting solution. The State’s struggle with poppy cultivation reflects a long chain of choices, pressures, and losses. Our memories underline how drug use affected our families, neighbourhoods and society. Yes, the crisis grew from long-standing pressures, and recovery depends on stronger communities, better income options, and restored trust.
Our growing community awareness and collective involvement show that we are firmly on the right path in Manipur’s historic struggle against drugs. Today, we have the opportunity to choose paths that protect life and secure a hopeful future for the generations to come. This is the legacy we can build together !
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he - Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Statement: I do not support illegal poppy culti- vation. I support sustainable alternatives that strengthen society and help affected farmers in Manipur. I stand firmly behind the Manipur Government’s ‘War on Drugs’ campaign. As a strong, united community, we must work alongside government agencies that are helping farmers abandon illegal poppy farming. We, the people of Manipur, can eliminate unlawful poppy cultivation through collective effort. I call upon the entire Manipur community to unite as one team in this fight against illegal cultivation of poppy, working together to create sustainable livelihoods and a healthier future for all.
About the author: Chongboi Haokip, MCI Hort, is an international development consultant specialising in agriculture, horticulture, and trade facilitation.