Opium cultivation increases in Afghanistan despite Taliban government ban

This photograph, taken on October 11, 2026, shows an Afghan farmer holding raw opium in his home in Badakhshan province.

Opium cultivation quadrupled this year in Afghanistan, despite the ban imposed by the Taliban government, the UN reported this Thursday (29), which highlighted the need to present productive alternatives to poor farmers.

Planted areas reached 43 thousand hectares, up from 10 thousand in 2025, while estimated opium production increased from 300 to 1,500 tons, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Afghanistan was the world's largest poppy producer, but was surpassed by Myanmar after the Taliban announced, in 2022, a ban on trade in the country.

However, poverty forced some farmers to return to poppy production.

"Without opium, we can't even buy basic food," Mohamad, a 22-year-old farmer in northeastern Afghanistan, told AFP.

The 2022 ban caused poppy cultivated areas to fall from 200,000 to 10,000 hectares in 2025.

In Myanmar, 53 thousand hectares were cultivated in 2025, but there is no data available for 2026.

Taliban authorities say they have destroyed more than 22,000 hectares of poppies, but according to the UNODC, many plantations are hidden and difficult to detect.