Trading Opium Poppies for Coffee Trees
For impoverished farmers in Myanmar, growing poppies for heroin is about 17 times more lucrative than growing rice. But to do it comes at a high cost. Many farmers are forced to compromise the safety of their village and the wellbeing of their families by growing poppies for the drug trade. Growing opium and addiction to opium go hand in hand. The added stress of addiction has caused decades of generational trauma, mental and physical abuse, and unpredictable violence. But three years ago, Lighthouse Coffee offered some farmers a fair and living wage to grow specialty coffee instead....
