The country’s opium production this year is expected to rise 36% to 1,080 tonnes, far more than Afghanistan’s 330 tonnes.
In Afghanistan, poppy cultivation fell by 95% after the Taliban banned the drug last year. Opium is the dried milky juice obtained from unripe poppy seeds.
Meanwhile, agriculture has expanded in Myanmar, where the civil war has made it a lucrative source of income.
“The economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the February 2021 military coup continue to push marginal farmers into opium,” says Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Drug Abuse crime (UNODC), which prepared the report.
Opium, the main ingredient in heroin, has been cultivated for decades in Myanmar, where it is used to finance rebel groups fighting the government. But just in the last year, during the Civil War, poppy cultivation increased by about 18%.
The pandemic and the poor state of Myanmar’s economy have made opium cultivation a more reliable and attractive form of work. Many locals who lost their jobs in other parts of Myanmar returned to Shan State, where they found work growing opium.
Shan State, the scene of fierce fighting between three armed groups and the army, has always been Myanmar’s largest opium producer. Rebel groups depend on the sale of opium to finance their operations.
Douglas said worsening conflict in the Shan and other border areas should lead to increased opium production.
The report also said that opium growing areas have increased the most in northern Shan state, followed by Chin and Kachin states, where rebel groups are fighting the army.
Heroin production and trade is the most profitable activity in the opium economy, with a total of 154 tonnes of heroin worth $2.2 billion exported from Myanmar this year, according to the report.
The region where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet has historically been a major source of opium and heroin production. Most of the heroin sold around the world comes from Myanmar and Afghanistan.
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2023-12-15 10:54:24
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