UN: Opium at highest levels in 10 years, Burmese civil war fuels cultivation

According to the UNODC, poppy cultivation areas have increased by 17% in one year, especially in Shan State. Cannabis cultivation is also on the rise in Sagaing, now the epicentre of the resistance. While some areas are returning to junta control thanks to conscription and drones supplied by Russia and China, instability continues and international criticism of the elections announced by the military continues.

Yangon (AsiaNews) - Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has reached its highest level in 10 years, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announced in recent days, publishing its latest report on the subject.

Over the past year, there has been a 17% increase in cultivated areas, with the cultivated area rising from 45,200 hectares to 53,100 hectares. This increase has remained constant since the 2021 coup and during the ensuing civil war, but it is also becoming less significant as the conflict worsens, with production actually increasing by only 1% compared to last year.

Increases in cultivation have occurred in several areas of Myanmar, but especially in Shan State, where 88% of poppy cultivation is located. According to UN experts, the current trajectory is likely to continue in the coming years.

Opium poppy cultivation is closely linked to the ongoing conflict, with no end in sight. Small farmers in mountainous areas are increasingly turning to opium because it is a much more profitable commodity than other crops. However, this has opened up greater trading opportunities for drug traffickers.

The illegal drug trade is an activity in which several groups are involved, including some of the ethnic militias fighting against the military junta.

For the first time, satellite data has also been used to map the Sagaing region, located in the centre of the country, which before 2021 had been unaffected by armed conflict because it was inhabited mainly by people of Bamar ethnicity and Buddhist faith.

In the last four years, however, it has seen a sharp increase in violence and is now one of the epicentres of resistance to the regime. According to the UNODC report, there are at least 552 hectares of land cultivated with opium poppies here.

Confirming this trend, the opposition newspaper The Irrawaddy reports that cannabis cultivation is also on the rise in some villages in the Sagaing region, areas traditionally devoted to the cultivation of rice, beans, betel and cotton.

"Planting 1,000 betel trees costs about 3 million kyat, but the market price is only 20,000 kyat per viss. In contrast, cannabis costs only 3,000-3,500 kyat per plant, and one viss of dried leaves and buds can fetch up to 800,000 kyat," explained a farmer from Myinmu. A viss is a local unit of measurement equivalent to just over 1.5 kilograms.

Several areas have returned to the control of the Burmese junta in recent months: the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), one of the country's main ethnic militias, has handed back Mongmit and the surrounding areas, where some important ruby mines in Shan State are located, to the military junta as part of a deal brokered by China.

But according to a report by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, based in Singapore, several territories in Kachin and Kayin states have also returned to army control thanks to the imposition of compulsory conscription (which has recruited 80,000 men since last year) and the massive use of drones, deployed with foreign support, particularly from China and Russia.

‘The increasingly close military relations with Russia, which date back to the Cold War, may have contributed to the knowledge of combined warfare and effective tactics using drones, learned from Russia during the invasion of Ukraine,’ the report says.

The exiled National Unity Government (NUG), which brings together parliamentarians who were part of the previous executive led by Aung San Suu Kyi, reported that 148 people were killed in bombings carried out by the junta in November alone.

Kachin is also considered an important area because it is home to several rare earth mines that the army trades with China. According to the ISP-Myanmar think tank, between January and September this year, China imported more than 52,000 tonnes of rare earths, 53% of which came from Myanmar.

Despite this, some experts point out that the army only controls about 20-30% of Myanmar's territory, and it seems unlikely that it will be able to return to governing the entire country in the short term.

This is one of the reasons why several international bodies continue to criticise the military's plan to hold elections, scheduled in several stages starting on 28 December, and have urged the army to focus on resolving the conflict.