Opium poppy farming hits 10-year high in war-torn Myanmar

According to the United Nations, Myanmar’s crop area has increased in all of the country’s war-scarred regions, with the country’s cropping area increasing by 10 percent.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently conducted a survey of Myanmar’s opium crop, finding that poppy cultivation increased by 17 percent from the previous year’s 111, 700, and 53, 100 hectares (roughly 131, 200 acres) of land.

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Following Afghanistan’s continued decline in cultivation, the UNODC said on Wednesday, “reaffirming Myanmar’s position as the world’s known main source of illicit opium.”

This significant increase in cultivation demonstrates how much the opium economy has grown over the past few years, according to Delphine Schantz, UNODC’s representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

A new report is now available!

According to the #MyanmarOpium Survey 2025, poppy cultivation has increased by 17% over the previous year. The production of #Opium is at a 10-year high, continuing to grow.

Read the entire report at https://t.co/OQ9ensS8Vo pic. twitter.com/vTptwukxT2

The UNODC claims that while the area of land grown poppy in Myanmar increased significantly between 2024 and 2025, the amount of opium produced per hectare has not kept up.

According to the UNODC, the country’s growing instability contributed to the discrepancy between opium cultivation and production because “intensifying conflict and insecurity” have made it increasingly difficult for farmers to maintain their crops and produce high opium yields.

The rising cost of opium, which has more than doubled since 2019, when 1 kg of fresh opium has cost $145, is a major factor in Myanmar’s increased poppy farming. According to the UNODC, one kilogram of opium costs $329 in Myanmar right now.

The UNODC report also mentions “emerging signs” of heroin entering international markets from Myanmar that were previously supplied by Afghan-originating narcotics, and warns that “heroin supply shortages from Afghanistan” are increasing globally as opiates are being produced. The highly addictive narcotic heroin is produced using opioids.

In 2024 and early 2025, commercial airline passengers seized 60 kg (132 lbs) of heroin allegedly manufactured in and around Myanmar, according to the European Union’s Drugs Agency (EUDA).

Farmers in Myanmar are being drawn to poppy cultivation because of the “intensifying conflict, the need to survive, and the lure of rising prices,” according to UNODC’s Schantz.

“The future of Myanmar will have significant implications,” the author declares.