Reprinted from Reuters Newswire, Oct 1, 2002.

Laos, part of the notorious Golden Triangle opium-producing region, plans to reduce poppy growing areas by 5,600 hectares or 40 percent over the coming year, state radio reported on Tuesday.

The targeted cut would be the largest annual reduction so far in the government's drive to make Laos opium-free by 2005, Laos National Radio quoted a cabinet minister as saying.

The radio quoted Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith telling parliament opium cultivation in 10 provinces would be replaced by other crops as part of the government's crop substitution projects.

The radio did not say how much money the government would need for these projects but Souban Salittirath, a cabinet minister who supervises drugs control, told Reuters earlier this year that Laos needed $80 million from donors to meet its target.

Official estimates put total poppy cultivation at 14,052 hectares in the fiscal year just ended, which yielded opium production of 117 tonnes, down from 17,251 hectares a year earlier.

Laos shares mountainous borders with Thailand and Myanmar, and the region forms the Golden Triangle, where Thai drugs authorities estimate the combined production of opium this year at 926 tonnes, compared with well over 2,000 tonnes in Afghanistan.