This photograph was taken in the Pa-O Self-Administered Region, where hillside farmers cultivate opium poppy under long-standing economic pressures. Many villagers consider the crop “legal” because they must pay regular fees to the Myanmar military, and Pa-O administrative in order to grow it.

Even then, farmers are not free to sell to any buyer—they can only sell at fixed prices to traders authorized by the Pa-O administration. The image reflects a complex reality in which rural communities navigate limited opportunities, overlapping power structures, and the struggle to survive in Myanmar’s remote highlands.