Alternate crops replacing poppy

Almost 200 Chinese companies have become involved in efforts to give farmers in the Golden Triangle alternatives to growing opium poppies, bringing profits to communities in Southeast Asia and China, a Yunnan commerce official said on Monday.

Since 2005, the number of companies investing labor and techniques into alternative crops has risen from 42 to 180, with total financial investment up to 1 billion yuan ($157 million) during that time, according to Yang Jun, deputy director of overseas poppy substitution development for Yunnan province's commerce department.

These enterprises have conducted more than 200 poppy alternative planting programs and developed their work mainly in the northern part of Laos and Myanmar, he said.