Myanmar Opium Survey 2024

Three years after the military takeover in Myanmar, poppy cultivation has stabilized at recent high levels, suggesting that the internal conflict remains a critical factor in illicit cultivation in Myanmar. The 2024 survey points to a slowing down of cultivation, with a slight decrease of 4% to 45,200 ha from 47,100 ha in 2023. Although area under cultivation has not returned to peaks reached in 2013 at nearly 58,000 ha, poppy cultivation remains robust. Historically, illicit poppy cultivation in Myanmar, and Southeast Asia in general, was typically of small, poorly organized, and sparse plots. Field and ethnographic research point to longstanding traditions of small-scale poppy cultivation, sometimes as a cash or insurance crop, but also for household use. However, in recent years, cultivation in Myanmar shifted toward more sophisticated practices that increased yields. National yield estimates from 2022’s survey indicated an average of 19.8kg of opium per hectare of poppy, which was a substantial increase from 14kg per hectare in 2021. In 2023, the national yield estimate rose again to 22.9kg per hectare—the highest ever recorded by UNODC. By 2024, yields declined slightly by 4% to 22kg/hectare.