Myanmar opium harvest drops for the first time since coup: UN

Around 80 % of the crop is produced in parts of Shan state in the south, which are the subject of fighting this month, according to the Myanmar Opium Survey 2024, which has prompted many poppy farmers to leave their fields.

Other potential causes of the lower include the restriction of travel to remote areas and the extraordinary monsoon period.

Additionally, the report found that local heroin markets ‘ oversupply and shifts in the product’s global supply chain may include reduced opiate export desire and caused price declines.

However, the UNODC claimed that Myanmar’s yield is still a significant source of income and that it is the second-largest in recent years.

Since the revolution, Myanmar’s economy has suffered, with the World Bank modeling a 1 % contraction for the fiscal year that ends in March 2025 this year.

As supply bars adjust and production techniques evolve, according to Masood Karimpour, the UNODC’s Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Myanmar officials were facing” serious problems” in curbing rose production, the regime’s home affairs minister told state media in June.

The UN’s most recent studies have been reached by AFP for opinion.

More than three million people have been displaced by the coup, which has caused social and economic unrest and military fight throughout the nation, according to the UN.