Myanmar became the world’s top producer of opium in 2023, overtaking Afghanistan where the Taliban banned its cultivation, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.
Around 1,080 tonnes of opium, essential for the manufacture of heroin, were produced in 2023 in Myanmar compared to 790 in 2022, according to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In Afghanistan, the fall in opium production was 95%, to around 330 tonnes, after the Taliban banned poppy cultivation in April last year, according to the UNODC.
The “golden triangle”, the border region between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, has long been a hotbed of drug production and trafficking, particularly methamphetamine and opium.
The UNODC estimates that Myanmar’s “opiate economy” is worth between $1 billion and $2.4 billion, equivalent to 1.7% to 4.1% of the country’s GDP.
Highest level in 20 years
Myanmar’s economy has been devastated by conflict and instability since a military junta took power in 2021, prompting many farmers to take up poppy cultivation.
Difficulties in accessing markets and public infrastructure and galloping inflation “appear to have played an important role in farmers’ decision to cultivate more poppies at the end of 2022,” according to the report.
Opium production estimated for 2022-2023 is at its highest level in more than 20 years.
Afghanistan, the world’s top producer for several years, saw its crops collapse after Taliban authorities promised to end illegal drug production.
In 2022, the poppy represented a third of the country’s agricultural production and occupied 233,000 hectares. By the end of 2023, this figure has fallen to 10,300 hectares.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that poppy cultivation in the country had been “eradicated”, while recognizing the plight of farmers forced to turn to less lucrative crops.
“They have stopped cultivating it now but in future it cannot be guaranteed because people are facing many problems,” he assured.
AFP was unable to reach a spokesperson for the Myanmar junta for comment.
A senior police officer in charge of the fight against narcotics said the ongoing conflict made it difficult for law enforcement to locate and destroy poppy fields.
“Without security, we can’t do much, even if we want to,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In Myanmar, almost 90% of the 41,300 hectares of poppy crops are in Shan State, the northern part of which has been rocked by fighting in recent weeks after an armed alliance of ethnic minority groups launched a offensive against the junta.
In eastern Shan State, the average yield jumped from 19.8 kg/ha in the 2022 survey to 29.4 kg/ha in 2023, thanks to more sophisticated techniques, increased investments, better irrigation and possible use of fertilizers.
Increase in yields
A wide range of ethnic armed organizations with tens of thousands of well-armed fighters control swaths of the state, which the United Nations also says is the main source of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia.
According to analysts, this region is also home to casinos, brothels and arms factories.
The military, which ousted an elected government and took power in 2021, has no intention of fighting the multibillion-dollar trade, analysts say.
Earlier this year, the head of Myanmar’s central anti-drug committee admitted, in a rare admission, that efforts to stop the trade were having no effect.