Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as world’s largest producer of opium
Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan to become the world’s largest producer of opium, according to the United Nations.
Production surged by 36 per cent across the south-east Asian country between 2022 and 2023 after a military coup caused domestic instability.
The rise came as a Taliban crackdown on the drug slashed supply by up to 95 per cent in Afghanistan.
Farmers in Myanmar have increasingly pushed into the trade as other economic opportunities disappear, producing 1,080 metric tonnes of opium – a critical ingredient in heroin harvested from poppy flowers – over the past 12 months.
In contrast, just 330 tonnes have been cultivated in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s ban on poppy cultivation in April last year.
Experts have called the crackdown the “most successful counter-narcotics effort in human history”.
In a report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday, the agency estimated that the amount of land used to grow the illicit crop in Myanmar jumped by 18 per cent to 47,100 hectares in the last year.
While this is much lower than the historic peak in early 2013, cultivation is becoming far more productive – yields have expanded by 16 per cent to 22.9kg per hectare, topping a previous record set last year.
At the same time, prices jumped by 27 per cent to roughly $355 (£282) per kilogram, meaning farmers are earning 75 per cent more from the trade than in 2022.
The total estimated value of Myanmar’s “opiate economy” rose to between $1 billion and $2.4 billion – the equivalent of 1.7 to 4.1 per cent of the country’s 2022 GDP, UNODC’s report said.
Opium poppy cultivation ‘closely linked to poverty’
“The economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover of February 2021 continue to drive farmers in remote areas towards opium to make a living,” said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC’s regional representative.
Across south-east Asia, opium poppy cultivation “is closely linked to poverty, lack of government services, challenging macroeconomic environments, instability, and insecurity”, UNODC’s report said.
At the moment, limited legitimate opportunities to make money combined with inflation and the lack of a welfare state makes opium an attractive option for many.
The report also looked at neighbouring Laos, and warned it may follow Myanmar’s trajectory.
Although production is currently stable, declining economic growth and extremely high inflation could make “poppy cultivation attractive” to farmers in rural regions, it said.
The “Golden Triangle” border region between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand has long been a hotbed of illegal drug production and trafficking, particularly of methamphetamine and opium.
In Myanmar, the main cultivating area is Shan state, the northern part of which has been convulsed by fighting in recent weeks after an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups launched an offensive against the junta and its allies.
Shan accounted for about 88 per cent of the 41,300 hectares (102,054 acres) of opium poppy areas nationwide, UNODC’s report said.
The state occupies almost a quarter of Myanmar’s land mass and is dotted with ravines and jungle-clad hills.
Fighters control swathes of the region
An array of ethnic armed organisations that can call on tens of thousands of well-armed fighters control swathes of the region.
Some administer autonomous enclaves granted to them by previous juntas, which analysts say are home to casinos, brothels and weapons factories.
UNODC’s report said cultivation had also increased in northern Kachin state and in Chin state on the border with India.
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