Poppies: the red gold of Guerrero mountains

Growers in the mountains of Guerrero can obtain up to 850,000 pesos (US$46,460) per year with four poppy crops. However, they face four enemies: bad weather, pests, the government and hoarders, who create violence and death.

With one hectare of corn, farmers obtain up to 35,000 pesos (US$1,912) twice a year, with beans, 60,000 pesos (US$3,278) and with peaches, up to one million pesos (US$54,645) per year with more than 1,000 trees in one hectare.

In contrast, one kilo of opium gum (obtained from poppies, that can be harvested every three or four months) gives farmers up to 27,000 pesos (US$1,475). Poppies are used to produce the purest heroin, China White, that costs up to 50 dollars (900 pesos) per gram in U.S. cities like Chicago.

In Guerrero, farmers have cultivated poppies for 40 years.

Rigoberto Acosta, president of the Regional Council of the Sierra de Guerrero (Cresig), was secretary of Rural Development during the administration of former governor Rogelio Ortega. His organization has insisted for 20 years that the government should channel proceeds from poppy production to municipal, federal or state coffers.

"With less than one hectare of land a farmer can get four kilos, maybe five, of opium gum. An hectare can yield up to 15 kilos."

According to Acosta, "a small producer that harvests between 10 and 15 kilos per hectare, and sells each kilo in 27,000 pesos, can get up to 405,000 pesos (US$22,130) per year.”

He explained that hoarders turn 15 kilos into 75, worth US$87,000, and distributors turn the same 75 kilos into 375 kilos. Each kilo is now worth 800,000 pesos (US$43,703) while U.S. consumers pay up to 50 dollars per dose, of less than one gram.

Arturo López Torres, sheriff of Filo de Caballos, in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo, says that eight mountain villages decided to allot a percentage of opium gum sales to carry out works in their villages. He added that growers have no contact with hoarders to avoid conflicts.