Forget Afghanistan, Myanmar is now the world’s top opium producer, UN says
- Myanmar’s legal economy has been gutted by conflict and instability since the military seized power in 2021, driving farmers to grow opium poppies
- Opium production in Afghanistan, meanwhile, slumped an estimated 95 per cent this year following the Taliban’s ban on poppy cultivation, the UN says
Myanmar produced an estimated 1,080 tonnes of opium – essential for producing heroin – this year, according to the latest report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The total estimated value of Myanmar’s “opiate economy” rose to between US$1 billion and US$2.4 billion – the equivalent of 1.7 to 4.1 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product last year, UNODC said.
Last year, an estimated 790 tonnes of opium were produced in Myanmar, it said.
Myanmar’s legal economy has been gutted by conflict and instability since the military seized power in 2021, driving many farmers to grow opium poppies.
Poor access to markets and state infrastructure as well as rampant inflation “appears to have played a significant role in farmers’ decisions in late 2022 to cultivate more poppy”, the report said.
Estimated opium production for 2022-23 was at its highest level for more than 20 years, UNODC said.
UNODC also said poppy cultivation in Myanmar was becoming more sophisticated, with increased investment and better practices – including improved irrigation and possible use of fertilisers – pushing up crop yields.
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Afghanistan, the world’s biggest producer for some years, has seen cultivation collapse after the Taliban authorities vowed to end illegal drug production.
Poppy crops accounted for almost one-third of the country’s total agricultural production by value last year, but the area used for poppy shrank from 233,000 hectares in late 2022 to 10,800 in 2023.
Shan accounted for about 88 per cent of the 41,300 hectares (102,054 acres) of opium poppy areas nationwide, the UN report said.
In eastern Shan, the average estimated yield of opium per hectare increased from 19.8kg in the 2022 survey to 29.4kg in 2023, it said.
Shan state occupies almost one-quarter of Myanmar’s land mass and is dotted with ravines and jungle-clad hills.
A giddying array of ethnic armed organisations that can call on tens of thousands of well-armed fighters control swathes of the state, which the UN says is also Southeast Asia’s primary source of methamphetamine.
Some administer autonomous enclaves granted to them by previous juntas, which analysts say are home to casinos, brothels and weapons factories.
In a rare admission earlier this year, the head of Myanmar’s Central Committee on Drug Abuse Control said its efforts to crush the trade were having no impact.
