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Parrots flying high on drugs are annoying farmers by plundering their poppy fields to feed their opium addiction.

The drug-addicted birds sit perched in wait until the morphine-rich area is exposed by workers slitting open the flowers' pods to help them ripen.

The parrots then swoop down in silence into the opium fields - having learned not to squawk - and frantically nibble off the stalks below the pod before they are spotted.

Video shows them retreating to high branches where they gorge on the plants leaving them sleeping for hours - and even falling to their death.

This phenomenon was first reported in 2015, but this year it has spread across to other regions for the first time.

Farmers now claim they are getting warnings from the Government's narcotics department - which controls opium farming - over their reduced yields.

Sobharam Rathod, an opium farmer from Neemach, India, estimates parrots are stealing around ten per cent of his crop and he has been given a warning.

(Image: EyeEm) (Image: AFP)

He said: "Usually, the parrots would make sound when in a group. But these birds have become so smart that they don't make any noise when they swoop on the fields.

"The birds start chirping when they fly away with opium pods.

"We have tried every trick possible to keep the birds at bay but these addicts keep coming back even at the risk of their life.

"Like we keep an eye on them, but they also keep an eye on us.

"The moment you lower your guard the army of parrots silently swoop onto your field and take away the bulbs."

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In 2015 drug raiding parrots were reported in Chittorgarh in the state of Rajasthan.

But this year they have been found making a huge dent in crops 40 miles away in Neemach in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

According to farmers, the numbers of birds raiding their fields are increasing with every passing year.

(Image: Moment RF)

Farmers are supposed to hand over a pre-agreed quantity of produce to the state, which controls opium farming.

The birds hit between March and April when the seeds are cut by farmers, exposing the latex which contains morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin.

According to farmers, drugged birds have become easy target for their predators thanks to their dopey state.

Farmers have tried bursting firecrackers, beating tin drums and hurling stones to keep the birds away - but to no avail.

Another farmer in Neemach added: "It is difficult to control these parrots.

"We have to spend hours in our fields to shoo them away."