UN: Opium poppy production increases in Afghanistan - NHKニュース

The United Nations is warning that more and more farmers in Afghanistan are growing opium poppies. It says the area under cultivation is now estimated at four times larger than a year ago.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime announced the findings on Thursday. The office says 16 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces are raising the raw material used to produce opium. It says the area where they are grown is estimated to have increased by 330 percent from a year earlier to 43,300 hectares. Opium production is also expected to reach just under 1,500 tons this year. That's about five times the level recorded in 2025.

Five years ago, the Islamist group the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. They banned cultivation and trade of poppies for religious reasons and other considerations, and claimed to have eradicated 22,000 hectares of poppy fields this year.

But with opium continuing to fetch high prices, a UNODC Country Representative for Afghanistan says many economically struggling farmers are still growing poppies. Polleak Ok Serei says, "Here in Afghanistan, the decision was there would be eradication first, but there was not enough support for alternative livelihoods--neither by the de facto authorities nor by the international community."

The UN says support for farmers is needed to help change a situation in which many feel they have no choice but to rely on cultivating poppies.