Opium-addicted parrots wreak havoc on poppy crops in UP

Opium farmers in the Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh are facing trouble because opium-addicted parrots are destroying their crops despite multiple attempts of scaring them away.

Pratapgarh: Opium farmers in the Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan are facing trouble because opium-addicted parrots are destroying their crops despite multiple attempts of scaring them away.

As the poppy crop gets ready, the parrots tear apart poppy seed pods to get to the opium inside. Farmers say that it gets very difficult for them to identify the parrots as they get camouflaged with poppy crops because of their colour. Apart from parrots, Nilgai also destroys their crops, the forest department has been alerted many times but no action is been taken and the problem still persists.

“One poppy bud produces 30-35 grams of opium, which is destroyed by large groups of parrots during the harvest season as some of them even fly away with pods,” said Gopal Sahu, a poppy farmer.

These parrots have become addicted to the crop as they return to the field 30-40 times a day and feed on the morphine oozing out of the bud after we split the poppy buds to help them ripe, added farmer

India is one of the largest legal producers of opium along with Afghanistan and Myanmar. Opium is also used to make medications such as morphine, codeine and thebaine. Most of these by-products of opium are either consumed domestically or exported for medicinal use.

There are over one lakh poppy farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.