Opium production has boomed in Myanmar since the military seized power, with poppy cultivation increasing by a third in the past year, according to a UN report.
In 2022, the first full growing season since the military wrested control from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, Myanmar saw a 33 percent increase in cultivated area to 40,100 hectares, according to the UN Office for Drugs and Crime released on Thursday.
“The economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover from February 2021 have compounded and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas in northern Shan and border states have had no choice but to return to opium,” said the office of UN Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas.
The total value of Myanmar’s opiate economy, based on UN estimates, varies between $660 million and $2 billion, depending on how much is sold locally and how much raw opium is processed into heroin or other drugs.
“Virtually all of the heroin reported in East and Southeast Asia and Australia originates in Myanmar, and the country remains the world’s second largest producer of opium and heroin after Afghanistan,” Douglas said.
“There is no comparing the two at this point as Afghanistan is still producing much more, but the expansion currently in Myanmar should not be dismissed and needs attention as it is likely to continue – it is directly related to the security and economic situation , which we see unfolding today.”
Decades of political instability have made Myanmar’s border areas largely lawless to be exploited by drug producers and traffickers. Most of the opium exported from Myanmar goes to China and Vietnam, while heroin goes to many countries in the region, Douglas said.
“That’s really where the value is for traffickers,” he said. “Very high profits.”
Opium cultivation had been declining in recent years before the military took control. Production forecasts bottomed out at 400 tonnes in 2020. After rising slightly in 2021, this rose in 2022 to roughly 790 tonnes, according to the report.
Myanmar has been plunged into a state of civil war since the military took over.
The violence has meant that the government has been unable to reach some areas to carry out anti-drug operations and has also had to divert resources elsewhere. Consequently, eradication efforts appear to have decreased significantly, with 1,403 hectares reported to have been eradicated in 2022 – approximately 70% less than in 2021.
As the conflict continues to take a toll on Myanmar’s economy, a growing number of rural households are being forced to rely more on opium cultivation for income, the UN said.
“The expansion of opium production that is going on is mainly related to poverty and people in rural areas responding to the economic situation,” Douglas said. “It’s always been there in tough times. At the same time, the security situation is clearly difficult with the increasing frequency and intensity of conflicts, and the actors in the drug economy are left largely unchecked.
Its synthetic drug economy is also growing for the same reasons, with reported regional seizures of methamphetamine and other drugs reaching record levels.
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