Poppy cultivation acreage in the Golden Triangle has been reduced to roughly 13,000 hectares, a record low level in the past century, said a senior anti-drug official in Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

He disclosed that Chinese anti-drug authorities arrived at the figure using satellite remote sensing and inspection technology.

Figures in 2005 and 2004 stood at 26,600 hectares and 36,000 hectares, said Sun Dahong, deputy director of the Public Security Bureau of southwest China's Yunnan Province, which borders the Golden Triangle.

The area, located on the borders of several Mekong countries, including Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, is considered one of the major drug sources for Chinese drug addicts.

Sun attributed the continuous reduction of poppy plant acreage partly to China's persistent anti-drug campaign, as over 95 per cent of the heroin Chinese drug addicts consume comes from the Golden Triangle.

The Chinese Government has also helped farmers in the Golden Triangle plant cash crops to replace poppy cultivation.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2006)