Monitoring Desk
VIENNA: Opium cultivation in Myanmar jumped 33% last year under military rule, reversing a six-year downward trend in the strife-torn country, a United Nations report has said.
The growth was “directly connected” to Myanmar’s political and economic turmoil since the junta took power in a coup nearly two years ago, an official at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
“Economic, security and governance disruptions after the junta’s takeover of February 2021 have converged, with farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas left with little option but to revert back to cultivating opium,” said Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC’s regional representative.
A military spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
Myanmar’s economy has been declining since the coup, with the kyat currency depreciating against the dollar and food and fuel prices surging.
“Without alternatives (to opium) and economic stability it is likely that opium cultivation and production will keep on expanding,” warned the UN body’s Myanmar country manager Benedikt Hofmann.
Crop’s yeild rose by 41% in 2022: UN
The cultivated area in 2022 increased by a third to 40,100 hectares (99,000 acres), while the average estimated yield surged 41% to nearly 20 kg (44 lb) per hectare, the highest ever since the UNODC started keeping records in 2002, the report said.
The eastern Shan State, bordering China, Thailand and Laos, saw the biggest rise in cultivation, at 39%.
The 2021 report mainly used satellite data to determine the cultivated land.
Every year, opium valued up to $2 billion is cultivated in Myanmar, with much of the drug smuggled out to neighbouring countries and on to the global market, the report added.
