Several new policies have been made effective in Yunnan Province to encourage local enterprises to invest on poppy transformation project in the north parts of Myanmar and Laos, including simplified exit procedures, and insurance support.

At present, more than 160,000 acres of poppy fields have been transformed into fields planted to other crops in the two countries mentioned above. According to the statistics by the end of 2006, there were only 66,000 acres of poppy fields left in north Myanmar.

(Chinanews.cn April 11, 2007)