13 March 2024
Myanmar became the world’s largest producer of opium in 2023, after a 95 percent drop in opium cultivation in Afghanistan due to a ban by the Taliban government, according to the United Nations (UN).
Analysts say that these poppy plants have been transformed into heroin by ethnic armed groups and criminals in Myanmar’s border region for a long time, and law enforcement has turned a blind eye to the billion-dollar trade.
Since the complication of political situation in Myanmar (2021), there has been social and economic instability across the country. Armed conflict has also become more important for some farmers who are struggling to earn an income.
The World Bank also reported in late 2023 that intense conflict in the country is disrupting transportation and delaying exports of agricultural products, such as rice and corn, which are key income earners.
At the same time, poppy cultivation has become more sophisticated, the United Nations said, with increased investment and agriculture increasing opium yields.
Myanmar produced about 1,080 metric tons of opium in 2023, according to the World Organization on Drugs and Crime.
In factories built hidden in the jungles and ravines of Shan State, it is refined into heroin, smuggled through neighboring Thailand and exported to the world market.
Most of people believe that if the conflict is not ended, the opium production in his region could be larger during this year’s harvest.
