World Opium Production Is Increasing

UN Report: Opium Cultivation Rising In Burma -- BBC

Opium growing has increased in Burma for a sixth year running despite eradication efforts, a UN report says.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said land used for opium had risen by 17% this year, from nearly 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) to 51,000 hectares.

Burma is the second largest opium grower in the world after Afghanistan.

Almost all of the opium it produces is grown in Shan and Kachin states, which have seen longstanding conflict between the military and ethnic rebel groups.

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More News On Global Opium Production

Opium cultivation increases for sixth year in Burma, according to UN report -- The Telegraph
UN: Opium Production in Burma Grows for Sixth Straight Year -- Voice of America
Myanmar opium output rises despite eradication effort -- Reuters
UN says Myanmar opium production on rise -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
South-East Asia's opium production to rise 15 per cent, UN says -- The Nation (Thailand)
Myanmar, Laos see large increase in opium cultivation, U.N. says -- L.A. Times

Afghanistan Is Not The Only Country With An Opium And Insurgency Problem

Ethnic armies in north Burma are reportedly buying arms with opium profits.
Photo from The BBC

Myanmar: UN Reports ‘Worrisome’ Rise In Opium Cultivation -- UN News Centre

Opium cultivation in Myanmar has increased for the third year in a row, with the number of hectares rising by 11 per cent – a total of almost 50 per cent since 2006 – although production was down due to a fall in yield per hectare, the United Nations anti-drug agency reported today.

Opium hectares now total 31,700 and while this is still just a quarter of the amount grown in Afghanistan and a far cry from the early 1990s when Myanmar was the world’s biggest opium producer, “the trend is going in the wrong direction,” a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said.

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More News On The Growth Of Myanmar's Poppy Crop

UN Reports Rise in Opium Cultivation in Burma -- Voice of America
U.N. Says Opium Trade Is Expanding in Myanmar -- New York Times
Myanmar rebels grow more opium to buy arms - report -- Reuters
Burma opium production up amid tension in north -- BBC
Opium cultivation doubled -- Straits Times
LAOS-MYANMAR: "Worrying trend" of rising opium poppy cultivation -- IRIN