Afghan Opium Cultivation Surges, UN Says
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan more than quadrupled in 2026, despite a ban by the Taliban government. The Afghanistan opium cultivation figure reached 43,000 hectares, up from 10,000 hectares in 2025, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Thursday.
Estimated opium production jumped fivefold, from 300 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes, according to the UNODC report. The agency warned the ban could not hold without other ways for families to earn a living.
Afghanistan was long the world’s leading producer of poppies. It was overtaken by Myanmar after a 2022 Taliban ban crushed the trade in the country. That ban drove cultivated areas down from more than 200,000 hectares to 10,000 hectares in 2025. Myanmar cultivated 53,000 hectares in 2025, with no 2026 figures available yet.
Afghanistan opium cultivation: why farmers returned to poppies
The report’s explanation is poverty. Rampant hardship has driven some farmers back to a crop that pays far more than wheat. One hectare of wheat generated just over $770 in 2023, compared with $10,000 for a hectare of poppy, according to UNODC.
Mohammad, a 22-year-old farmer in the north-east of the country, told AFP that his family could not afford basic food without opium. He lives with his parents in Badakhshan, which has become Afghanistan’s main poppy-growing province. “The Taliban threaten us and do not allow us to grow opium. We cultivate it with a great deal of fear,” he said, asking to be named only by his first name.
Another farmer, also named Mohammad and aged 35, ploughs his poppy field with an ox. He said wheat was not enough to sustain his life. “If we grow wheat, it is not enough to sustain our lives. We are forced to grow poppies to earn a good income,” he said. He said he would continue despite threats and destroyed crops. “It is the only way to cover living expenses,” he said.
The Taliban authorities claim to have destroyed more than 22,000 hectares, but UNODC said many plots were hidden among cereal crops or behind walls.
Opium prices slipped slightly, from $570 per kilogramme in 2025 to $500 per kilogramme in 2026. Even so, prices stayed well above pre-ban levels of less than $100 per kilogramme.
The economics behind the surge
| Measure | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Cultivated area | 10,000 hectares | 43,000 hectares |
| Estimated production | 300 tonnes | 1,500 tonnes |
| Price per kilogramme | $570 | $500 |
| Pre-ban price | Less than $100 | Less than $100 |
UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma said the rise showed how hard it was to sustain cuts when poor farmers had no alternatives. The Taliban government itself acknowledged that the ban was not a sustainable and long-term solution without alternative livelihoods and economic support for farmers.
The challenge comes as Afghanistan faces the return of 6.6 million Afghans since 2023, climate disasters, dwindling aid and banking isolation. With support from Japan and the European Union, UNODC has funded programmes to help farmers find alternatives.
Through the NGO Afghan Aid, Zikrullah, 35, who supports an extended family of 12 in Badakhshan, received improved wheat seeds and fertiliser. “We are satisfied, it takes less effort than opium,” he told AFP. Another farmer, who has converted 80 per cent of his land to wheat, said water shortages in recent years had hit crops other than poppy.
Why the problem reaches beyond Afghanistan
UNODC Country Representative for Afghanistan Polleak Ok Serei told AFP that alternative crops alone were not enough. Farmers needed access to markets, including international markets through trade. They needed infrastructure, roads, irrigation and storage.
UNODC estimated in 2025 that such an approach would require about $500 million, of which only 10 per cent had been funded. The strategy also took time. “Thailand spent 15 years investing in alternative livelihood before starting eradicating,” Ok Serei said.
The problem extends far beyond Afghanistan, he added. Afghan drugs are consumed across other continents, and Afghan opium is the main source of heroin in the European Union. About 850,000 people used opioids in the EU in 2024, according to the European Union Drugs Agency. Ok Serei called for a drug demand reduction strategy, not only in Afghanistan but also outside it. Drug enforcement remains a live issue elsewhere too, including the US drug boat strike in the Pacific that drew international attention this month.
