Remember the time of eradicating opium poppies in Hoi Poc
(Baonghean) -About 15 years ago, Ky Son was considered the “capital” of opium. Opium (poppy) is a “specialty” of the Mong people, grown, cared for, extracted and harvested like upland rice. At peak times, the area reached thousands of hectares, and during the peak season, poppies bloomed throughout the communes and villages. Thanks to the United Nations support program, Ky Son has basically eradicated this deadly plant and replaced it with other suitable crops.
In January 2006, I had been a reporter for Nghe An Newspaper for 6 years and was “lucky” to join the group to eradicate and replant opium poppies in Ky Son. I called it lucky because it had been 5 years since Ky Son had replanted this plant. Knowing this was a rare opportunity, I suggested to comrade Bui Tram, then Vice Chairman of the District People’s Committee, Head of the Opium Poppy Eradication Group, to put my name on the list of the group. Although he was a bit hesitant and worried about the difficulties and complications, he agreed with my determination.
The plan to eradicate opium poppies was like a “battle”. The steering committee had discussed and prepared plans and forces quite carefully. Each member of the group was equipped with specialized anti-slip shoes with spikes, flashlights, dry food, drinking water, walking sticks, etc. At exactly 10 am, the whole group gathered at the Na Loi commune headquarters to advance to Huoi Poc village (Nam Can commune). Leading the way were the border guards, supported by the police, and behind them were comrades in the district military command to support. The “staff” of the group was about 30 people, including the district steering committee, the commune steering committee, a number of teachers from the Na Loi commune secondary and primary schools, and doctors at the commune health station.
Opium plantation scene.
The working group crossed the forest, crossed the stream, and took a shortcut to go up. According to the experience of some members of the group, to avoid bad situations that could happen, the group did not follow the trail but took the shortcut, because it was easy to encounter unexpected situations when going on the trail because the replanting households had prepared a "protection" plan. Because I was excited to see the poppy right on the field, I tried my best to stick with the group to keep up. During the nearly 4-hour journey, I don't know how many steep slopes we crossed, there were steep rocky sections that required us to hold on to the forest vines to climb up. In the middle of winter, at an altitude of about 600m-700m above sea level, sweat poured out from each member, soaking their shirts. If you have never gone to eradicate opium poppies, hearing about it is just a story, but now participating directly, I have realized that the "three bests" are indeed true, the highest, the farthest, and the most difficult places are where opium poppies are grown.
The whole group was holding on to the tree branches with their feet and hands, looking up and stretching to get through the steep rocky gorge, some places up to 60 degrees, the feet of the person in front were placed on the heads of the person behind, one member of the group in front shouted: Here is the opium plantation! Immediately, the working group deployed the border guards, military, and police forces, divided into 3 groups to survey, searched around the plantation and found it safe, blocked off suspicious locations, and then the remaining members were allowed to uproot. Having never seen a poppy plant with my own eyes, I was curious, quickly pulled up a few large plants, the flower buds had sprouted the size of peanuts, and brought them up to observe. The poppy plant is very similar to the chrysanthemum plant in the lowlands, with serrated leaves, lush green, and clustered roots. Picking a young leaf and putting it in my mouth, it felt sweet, but not bitter.
This replanted field is located on the land of Huoi Poc village, Nam Can commune, the border area between Na Loi and Nam Can communes. In terms of boundaries, it is very difficult to determine the area of replanted opium of more than 1,000 m2.2Which commune does this belong to? On the other hand, the opium plantation is located in the middle of a very secretive valley, difficult to detect. The discovery of the opium plantation was due to the villagers losing their cows and going looking for it, so they reported it to the commune.
Author on the opium plantation
To quickly complete the eradication of the entire opium poppy area before sunset, the whole group resolutely used their hands to pull out the big plants, and crushed the small ones with sticks. The sun had set halfway down the hill, and the group's work had basically just finished. The lush opium poppy fields were now nothing more than a desolate wasteland. At night in the center of Na Loi commune, under the flickering light from a small hydroelectric generator, during dinner, an unforgettable dish of boiled poppy was prepared. The pungent smell and sweet taste of the vegetable, few would have guessed that it was the alluring green color and sweetness that, through many stages of processing, had sown so much "white death" that this afternoon the whole working group had overcome difficulties to contribute to eradicating it completely.
Hong Son
