Myanmar’s opium cultivation hit 10-year peak in 2025, UN says

ISTANBUL

Myanmar's opium cultivation hit a 10-year high in 2025, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned on Wednesday.

A report by the UNODC titled "Myanmar Opium Survey 2025: Cultivation, Production and Implications," inspecting poppy cultivation's fourth growing season since the 2021 military takeover, found cultivation increased 17%, or to 53,100 hectares, in 2025 in comparison of 2024.

The increase "reflects the uncertainty the country faces after years of conflict and socio-economic instability," the UNODC said, adding that it also "reaffirms Myanmar’s role as the world’s known main source of illicit opium, following the continued decline of cultivation in Afghanistan."

"This major expansion in cultivation shows the extent to which the opium economy has re-established itself over the past years - and points to potential further growth in the future," said Delphine Schantz, UNODC representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, emphasizing that Myanmar "stands at a critical moment."

The UNODC pointed out the rising prices of opium as one of the key reasons for the increase in production.

"If global demand for opiates from Southeast Asia rises in response to heroin supply shortages from Afghanistan, this trend is likely to continue," it warned.

Farmers continue poppy cultivation due to the "intensifying conflict, the need to survive and the lure of rising prices," Schantz said.

"The increase we have seen in the past year will have significant implications for Myanmar’s future. Unless viable alternative livelihoods are created, the cycle of poverty and dependence on illicit cultivation will only deepen. What happens in the country will shape drug markets in the region and far beyond, and requires urgent action," she added.

The 2021 military takeover ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, and plunged the country into more than four years of emergency rule.