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Opium farming in Afghanistan shrank by a fifth in 2025, UN survey finds
Afghanistan's opium farming dropped 20% in 2025 due to the Taliban ban, drought, and enforcement; meanwhile, synthetic drug production like methamphetamine is rising, UNODC reported.
- On Thursday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan fell 20% to 10,200 hectares this year, a further drop since the 2023 collapse after the Taliban ban.
- After the 2022 ban by the Taliban government, pre-ban cultivation reached an estimated 232,000 hectares, and the 2025 reduction follows a 19% rebound in 2024.
- The UN report found the price for dry opium fell 27% to $570 per kilogram, farmers' revenues plunged 48% to about $134m this year, and seizures rose 50% in late 2024.
- Organised criminal groups are increasingly shifting to synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamine, which are easier to produce and harder to detect; poppy cultivation moved to Badakhshan province where May 2024 clashes with Taliban forces killed several people.
- The UNODC found output at 296 tonnes, placing Afghanistan behind Myanmar for the first time since its 2017 peak of nearly 9,900 tonnes worth $1.4bn, while drought left over 40 percent of land fallow and the United Nations urged international assistance.
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34 Articles
34 Articles
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has declined significantly following a ban imposed by the Taliban government in 2022, the United Nations said.
·Belgrade, Serbia
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In 2025, its culture decreased by 20% compared to the previous year, reports a United Nations agency.
·Montreal, Canada
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According to the report of UNDOC, only this year the area of cultivation and opium extraction fell from 12,800 to 10,200 hectares. In 2022, the Taliban regime prohibited the production of tobacco.
·Portugal
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Total News Sources34
Leaning Left4Leaning Right5Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution38% Right
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources lean Right
38% Right
L 31%
C 31%
R 38%
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