00:01Hacking through a field of opium poppies, police in Pakistan are on a raid.
00:06It's part of a campaign to crack down on drug production in the area.
00:10Sap from opium poppies like these is used to make highly addictive drugs like heroin,
00:15a trade police want to stop.
00:18On the orders of the district police office, we've launched an operation against opium.
00:23We're currently in the Shigai area, and this operation will continue.
00:27So far, we've destroyed opium in an area of approximately six hectares.
00:34Farmers here often earn more from small plots of opium than from fields of traditional crops.
00:39And with the remote community sitting on a drug corridor from Afghanistan,
00:43poppy farming has become a key source of income.
00:47What we grow is not good, but we are growing it because of poverty.
00:51The government sent its officials to spoil it, but they didn't ask us about it.
00:55Some locals are calling for government assistance, saying they don't want to rely on the poppies for their livelihoods either.
01:02This is our opium field, and the government has ruined it.
01:05We have spent a lot on it.
01:06We demand that the government provides us seeds of wheat, onions, tomatoes, as well as livestock and other things,
01:11so we will not cultivate opium anymore.
01:15But with limited opportunities, farmers here may have no other choice but to keep growing poppies.
01:20At least, until there are other ways to lift themselves out of poverty.
01:24Luffy Lee, Tiffany Wong, and Bryn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.
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