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The Fifth Floor: Myanmar: the world's top opium producer

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Opium poppies_NEW Cropped.jpg

22/12/2023 GMT

Myanmar: the world's top opium producer

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Myanmar: the world's top opium producer

Why cultivation of the opium poppy in Myanmar is expanding

As Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as the world's largest producer of opium, we hear about farmers, traders and insurgents in Shan State, where most of the crop is grown.

Poppy cultivation in Myanmar has increased since the military takeover of February 2021, and the country has now overtaken Afghanistan as the main source of the world’s opium. BBC Burmese editor Soe Win Than tells us about farmers, traders and insurgents in Shan State, where most of the crop is grown.

Sri Lanka's X-Press Pearl pollution clean-up 
In May 2021, the X-Press Pearl cargo ship caught fire and sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.  Plastics and chemicals from the wreck polluted the marine environment and beaches, killing fish and sea mammals, and destroying fishing livelihoods.  But a clean-up operation has been underway, with women from the fishing community paid to clean the beaches, as BBC Sinhala's Roshan Chaturanga found out.  

Iran's dance protests 
Dancing has long been a form of defiance against the government in Iran.  Recently a 70-year-old man from the northern city of Rasht, pictured doing an improvised dance in front of a group of men, had his Instagram account shut down, prompting outrage on social media and a storm of copycat dances.  BBC Monitoring journalist Sarbas Nazari has followed the story. 

Disappearing memorials to Stalin's victims 
To many, Joseph Stalin was the strong leader who brought the Soviet Union to greatness.  To others his rule is synonymous with the purges that killed millions.  But recently plaques and memorials remembering his victims have started disappearing, while new statues to Stalin are increasing, as BBC Monitoring's Sandro Gvindadze reports.   

South Korean toy hospital 
Christmas is a time for new toys, but this story is about the love of old ones, specifically the ones so loved they broke.  BBC Korean's Hyojung Kim went to a hospital for damaged toys run by retired professors wanting to put their engineering skills to use.

(Photo: Opium poppy seedpods in Shan State, Myanmar. Credit: BBC)

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