Origin and distribution

Origin and distribution

    Opium poppy is supposed to have originated in the western Mediterranean region and from there it has spread through the Balkan peninsula to Asia Minor and India. Since antiquity, its cultivation has been in vogue in Italy, Greece and Asia Minor. It was during the 15th century that the herb was introduced in India. First, it was cultivated along the sea coast and later penetrated into the interior of the peninsula.

    Area and production
    The 1953, the United Nation's Opium Conference Protocol (still in effect) for limiting and regulating the cultivation of opium poppy plants asserts that Bulgaria, Greece, India, Iran, Turkey, the USSR, Egypt, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Holland, China, Japan, Argentina, Spain, Hungary, Portugal and Yugoslavia are the countries that may legally produce opium. The only country where substantial amount of opium is now produced for export is, India which amounts to 1,465 t annually and forms over 90% of the world production. In India, all the opium of commerce is now grown mainly in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan covering an area of 18000 ha.

    The control and regulation of all aspects of the cultivation of poppy and wholesale trade has been under the purview of the Government of the India since 1773. After the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the essentials of the present system of narcotics control, which derived from the system instituted by the British in the 1857 Opium Act, were retained with few changes.
    The Government of India is able to effectively license farmers to grow opium. This is highly organized so as to allow elimination of those growers whose yield of opium is poor.

Last modified: Tuesday, 3 April 2012, 10:37 AM