Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan Quadruples under Taliban Rule: UN

Despite the Taliban’s ban on opium poppy cultivation, the area under cultivation in Afghanistan expanded to 43,000 hectares in 2026. Opium production also increased fivefold compared with the previous year, reaching 1,500 tones. The United Nations has warned that sustaining a reduction in poppy cultivation will be difficult unless farmers are provided with alternative livelihoods and economic support.

According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Taliban imposed a ban on opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2022. However, the latest figures show a significant increase in cultivation. The area under poppy cultivation rose from 10,000 hectares in 2025 to 43,000 hectares in 2026. Over the same period, opium production climbed from 300 tones to 1,500 tones.

Afghanistan was the world’s largest opium poppy producer for many years, but Myanmar overtook it following the ban. The report says poverty and difficulties in meeting basic needs are pushing Afghan farmers back towards poppy cultivation. Badakhshan province has now become a major center of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. According to one farmer in the province, it is difficult to afford even basic necessities, such as food, without income from opium. Farmers say the income generated by growing wheat is insufficient to cover their expenses.

UN figures show that in 2023, farmers earned slightly more than $770 per hectare from wheat cultivation, compared with approximately $10,000 per hectare from poppy cultivation. Taliban authorities claim to have destroyed poppy crops across more than 22,000 hectares. However, the UN says that in some areas, poppies are cultivated among grain crops or hidden behind walls, making them difficult to detect. The report also notes that the price of opium fell from $570 per kilogram to $500 in 2026. Nevertheless, it remains far above the pre-ban price of approximately $100 per kilogram.

The UN has stressed that farmers must be given access to markets for alternative crops, as well as roads, irrigation systems and storage facilities. Polic Ok Srey, the UNODC representative in Afghanistan, said that approximately $500 million had been estimated as necessary for sustainable alternative-livelihood program for farmers, but only 10 percent of that amount had been provided. Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan has faced a range of challenges, including banking isolation, declining foreign aid, climate-related disasters and the return of 6.6 million Afghan nationals since 2023. According to the UN, international cooperation and strategies to reduce demand for drugs are also essential to curbing drug production. Afghan opium remains a major source of heroin in the European Union.