Chittorgarh's opium farmers in distress after govt cancels licences

Ramlal Jat's hopes for a prosperous future crashed last year when he lost his licence to cultivate opium because he produced 20 grams less morphine than specified under a new Central government policy.

Famed for the quality of its opium, a cash rich crop used in the pharma industry and tightly controlled by the government, Chhittorgarh's farmers should be laughing all the way to the bank.

But discontent echoes far and wide in this election season with thousands of farmers like 68-year-old Ramlal who find the ground slipping away because their licences have been revoked.

About 15,000 farmers in this Rajasthan district have lost their licences in the last three years, according to Ram Narayan, national president of the Bhartiya Afeem Kisan Vikas Samiti.

Opium is cultivated on around 4,000 hectares of land on Chittorgarh, also famous for its many heritage tourist sites.

Along with Pratapgarh in the state, Chhittorgarh produces 60 per cent of the total opium in India.

The fear that their licence will be revoked hangs heavy, said many opium farmers, expressing the hope that someone listens to their woes, at least in election time.

Opium farmers have the potential to decide the fate of any political party in the elections in Chittorgarh, which votes in phase four on April 29.

Narayan said the BJP promised to restore the cancelled licences of farmers if it came to power in the run-up to the 2014 elections. But the Central government has done nothing to address their issues, he said.

According to Narayan, under the new minimum qualifying yield (MQY), a licence can only be issued or renewed if the content of morphine, a derivative of opium and the main ingredient in opium and narcotic drugs, is 5.9 kg per hectare.

But morphine yield, he explained, is not in the hands of the farmers.

"We demand that the central government withdraws the condition of 5.9 kg morphine per hectare. Also, it should revoke the cancelled licences of all