According to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2025poppy cultivation has increased by 17% over the past year, from 45,200 hectares in 2024 to 53,100 hectares in 2025 – reversing a brief decline and confirming a steady upward trend since 2020.
A “critical moment”
Opium derived from the poppy is the main natural active ingredient used in the production of heroin. The world’s three main sources of illegal opium are Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.
“Myanmar is at a critical juncture” said Delphine Schantz, Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
“This major expansion of culture shows how The opium economy has recovered in recent years – and suggests potential for further growth in the future.»
Opium production and yields in Myanmar, 2005 to 2025.
Culture caused by conflict
The largest increases were recorded in Eastern Shan State, where cultivation increased by 32 percent, and Chin State, up 26 percent – both heavily affected by armed conflict, weak state presence and limited access to services.
The southern Shan, long the heart of Myanmar’s opium economy due to its rugged terrain, porous borders and well-established trafficking networks, remains the country’s main growing area, accounting for 44 percent of all poppy fields.
Main source
For the first time, significant crops have also been documented in the Sagaing region – considered the “epicenter” of conflict in Myanmar since the Military takeover in 2021 – with 552 hectares of poppy cultivation and highlighting a growing movement towards the country’s insecure western border areas.
Myanmar has been the world’s main source of illicit opium since the collapse of production in Afghanistanwhere the crop fell by around 95 percent after the Taliban ban in 2023.
Total opium production is estimated at around 1,010 tonnes in 2025 – more than double Afghanistan’s current level.
Yields fell most sharply in northern Shan and Kachin, where fighting intensified, displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Field reports indicate that some farmers replant old fields without crop rotation and struggle to obtain fertilizer, further reducing productivity.
Dry opium prices (left) and shares of the opiate economy in Myanmar.
A “culture of survival”
Despite falling yields, rising prices continue to make opium an attractive survival crop.
Domestic producer prices for dry opium averaged around $365 per kilogram in 2025, more than double the 2019 level.
The UNODC estimates that farmers earned between $300 million and $487 million from the sale of opium last year – a vital source of income as Myanmar’s licit economy remains fragile.
“Driven by intensifying conflict, the need to survive and the lure of rising prices, farmers are drawn to poppy cultivation,” Ms. Schantz said. “Unless viable alternative livelihoods are created, the cycle of poverty and dependence on illicit crops will only worsen.
Heroin flows move beyond Southeast Asia
The investigation also reveals signs that heroin from Myanmar is reaching markets previously supplied by Afghanistan.
European anti-drug authorities have reported several seizures in 2024 and early 2025 of heroin believed to have been produced in and around Myanmar from air passengers traveling from Thailand to Europe.
Beyond opiates, Myanmar also remains a major hub for the production of synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine and ketamine, exacerbating what the UNODC describes as a “very challenging illicit drug situation” in Southeast Asia and beyond.
“What happens in Myanmar will shape drug markets in the region and far beyond, and requires urgent action.» warned Ms. Schantz.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
