Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what acreage of land in the UK is under cultivation for the legal production of opium poppies.

Defra does not hold any official statistics on the acreage of land under cultivation for the legal production of opium poppies in the UK. This information is collected under the category “crops for aromatic or medicinal use". This category includes plants such as poppies, lavender, chamomile, and plants or parts of plants used for pharmaceutical purposes, perfume manufacture or other aromatic products. As a consequence we are not able to distinguish the area of opium poppies from the other crops that fall into that category.