Opium production in Afghanistan, once the world’s top supplier, has plummeted since the Taliban government outlawed cultivation of the drug last year, a United Nations report said on Sunday.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said opium cultivation fell across the country to just 10,800 hectares (26,700 acres) in 2023 from 233,000 hectares the previous year, reducing supply by 95% to 333 tonnes.
This has put pressure on farmers in the war-torn country, where most people depend on agriculture and the value of poppy exports has at times exceeded the value of all official exports, the UNODC said.
The sharp decline could have major consequences for the economy in a country where about two-thirds of the population already needs humanitarian aid, the report said.
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“In the coming months, Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investments in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghan farmers with opportunities away from opium,” Gada Wali, UNODC’s executive director, said in a statement.
“This presents a real opportunity to build towards long-term results against the illicit opium market and the harm it causes both locally and globally.”
The massive shrinking of the supply from Afghanistan – estimated to supply around 80% of the world’s illicit opium – could eventually lead to a reduction in opium use internationally, but it also risked escalating the global use of alternatives such as fentanyl or synthetic opioids, the UNODC said.
The Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader banned the cultivation of the drug in April 2022, and the interior ministry said it would destroy any remaining crops.
Read more: Afghan Taliban completely banned opium cultivation
Under their previous rule, the Taliban in 2000 banned poppy cultivation as they sought international legitimacy, but faced a popular backlash, experts said.
Many of the provinces where the Taliban have historically had high levels of support, such as southern Helmand, have a large concentration of opium poppy cultivation.
The UNODC said many farmers had switched to growing wheat but that it was earning significantly less than poppy.
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