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Myanmar becomes the world’s largest producer of opium in 2023, overtaking Afghanistan after the Taliban government’s crackdown on trade, a United Nations Official released on December 12, 2023. Myanmar produced an estimated 1080 metric of opium, essential to produce heroin this year according to the latest drug report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The figures come after opium production in Afghanistan slumped an estimated 95 percent t09 around 330 tonnes following the Taliban’s ban on poppy cultivation in April 2022 according to the UNODC.
The Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle Region border between Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand has long been a hotbed of illegal drug production and trafficking, particularly methamphetamine and opium. Drugs from Thailand and Laos are first transported to Myanmar and due to the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and porous borders, the drugs from Myanmar enter India through Moreh, a border town in Manipur (India), and then through northeastern cities such as Guwahati, drugs are smuggled to other parts of India. The main drug baron and drug network controller is Khun Sa, a person who is infamous for his drug cartels.
Reason for Increase in Drug Trade
Myanmar’s economy (legal economy) has been gutted by the conflict and instability since the military seized power in the year 2021 which drove many farmers to cultivate poppy. To add more fuel to the already raging fire, the poor access to markets and state infrastructure as well as rampant inflation appears to have played a significant role in the farmers’ decisions in late 2022 to cultivate more poppy, the report said.
Areas of Production
Poppy crops accounted for almost a third of the country’s total agriculture production by value last year, but the area used for poppy shrank from 233,000 hectares in late 2022 to 10,800 in 2023. In Myanmar, the main cultivating area is the Shan state, the northern part of which has been convulsed by rampant violence and fighting in recent weeks after an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups launched an offensive against the junta and its allies.
Shan accounted for about 88 percent of the 41,300 hectares (102,054 acres) of opium poppy areas nationwide, the UN report said. In eastern Shan, the average estimated yield of opium per hectare increased from 19.8 kilograms in the 2022 survey to 29.4 kilograms in 2023, it said.
Shan State
Shan occupies almost a quarter of Myanmar’s land mass and is dotted with jungles, hills, and ravines. A giddying array of ethnic armed organizations that call on tens of thousands of well-armed fighters control swathes of the state, which the UN says is also South Asia’s primary source of methamphetamine. Some administer autonomous enclaves granted to them by the previous junta, which analysts say are home to casinos, brothels, and weapon factories.
Other Areas of Cultivation
The United Nations said cultivation had also increased in northern Kachin States and in the Chin State adjacent to the border with India. As per some analysts, the military, which ousted an elected government and seized power in 2021 is not serious about ending the multi-billion-dollar trade. In a rare admission earlier this year, the head of Myanmar’s Central Committee on Drug Abuse Control said its efforts to crush the trade were having no impact.
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