Opium farmers demand policy overhaul, fair pricing

Jaipur: The opium farmers' association of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has strongly urged the Centre to rethink its opium cultivation policy for 2025-26. They have demanded fair treatment of farmers, higher prices, and an end to what they call ‘exploitative practices'.

In a statement released Friday, the association clarified that "opium is a medicinal crop, not a drug" and blamed corrupt officials rather than the crop itself for mismanagement. "Opium is not inferior — it is the system and some officials that failed the farmers," the association asserted.

Key demands include issuing traditional cultivation licences to all farmers and families who grew opium since Independence and revising the price of raw opium to at least Rs 50,000 per kg to align with global standards. "Farmers have faced years of exploitation under the guise of regulation while their production costs skyrocketed," the association said.

The group also criticised the govt-imposed Concentrated Poppy Straw (CPS) system, describing it as an attempt to "enslave farmers to private companies." They called for its discontinuation, arguing that if CPS was genuinely effective, parallel traditional farming wouldn't still exist. "If CPS is truly superior, make its performance data public. Stop forcing it on traditional farmers," the association has demanded.

The association suggests that the govt should directly buy and fairly compensate for all by-products like doda chura, comparing it to how no one expects farmers to manage cow dung after consuming the milk. The Central Bureau of Narcotics issues licences to farmers for opium cultivation and is the sole authority responsible for its procurement.

They have also urged the govt to prevent opium cultivation from falling into the hands of private companies and called for a CBI probe into the operations of the narcotics department between 2015 and 2025.

The farmers stressed that adopting their suggestions would "ensure economic freedom for the country, prosperity for farmers, and affordable medicines for patients, in line with the PM's ‘Make in India, Made by Farmers' vision."