Myanmar Opium Cultivation Hits 10-Year Peak Amid Crisis

UNODC staff collect data on opium poppy cultivation in rural Myanmar.

Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has surged to a ten-year high, the United Nations reported on Wednesday, highlighting how prolonged conflict and economic collapse are pushing farmers deeper into the illicit economy.

According to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2025, poppy cultivation rose by 17 per cent over the past year, from 45,200 hectares in 2024 to 53,100 hectares in 2025—reversing a brief dip and continuing a steady upward trend since 2020.

A ‘critical moment’

Opium derived from poppies is the naturally occurring primary ingredient used in heroin production. The three main global sources of illegal opium are Afghanistan, Colombia, and Myanmar.

“Myanmar stands at a critical moment,” said Delphine Schantz, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “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.”

Conflict-driven crop

The sharpest increases were recorded in East Shan state, where cultivation rose by 32 per cent, and in Chin state, up 26 per cent—both heavily affected by armed conflict, weak state presence, and limited access to services.

South Shan, long the heart of Myanmar’s opium economy due to its rugged terrain, porous borders, and entrenched trafficking networks, remained the country’s main growing area, accounting for 44 per cent of all poppy fields.

Main source

For the first time, significant cultivation was documented in Sagaing region—believed to be the “epicentre” of Myanmar’s conflict since the 2021 military takeover—with 552 hectares under poppy, highlighting a growing shift toward the country’s insecure western border areas.

Myanmar has been the world’s main source of illicit opium since production collapsed in Afghanistan, where cultivation dropped by about 95 per cent after a Taliban ban in 2023. Total opium output is estimated at around 1,010 metric tons in 2025—more than double Afghanistan’s current level.

Yields declined most sharply in North Shan and Kachin, where fighting has intensified, displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Some farmers are replanting old fields without crop rotation and struggling to obtain fertilizers, further reducing productivity.

A ‘survival crop’

Despite falling yields, rising prices continue to make opium an attractive survival crop. National farmgate prices for dry opium averaged about $365 per kilogram in 2025, more than double the level in 2019.

UNODC estimates that farmers earned between $300 million and $487 million from opium sales last year—a vital income source as Myanmar’s legal economy remains fragile.

“Driven by the 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 cultivation will only deepen.”

Heroin flows shifting beyond Southeast Asia

The survey also indicates that heroin from Myanmar is reaching markets previously supplied by Afghanistan. European authorities reported several seizures in 2024 and early 2025 of heroin believed to have been produced in and around Myanmar, carried by airline passengers from Thailand to Europe.

Beyond opiates, Myanmar also remains a major hub for synthetic drug production, including methamphetamine and ketamine, compounding what UNODC describes as a “highly challenging illicit drug situation” across Southeast Asia and beyond.

“What happens in Myanmar will shape drug markets in the region and far beyond, and requires urgent action,” Ms. Schantz warned.