Myanmar has become the world's largest source of opium, thanks to domestic instability and a decline in cultivation in Afghanistan, Reuters quoted a report of the United Nations as saying.

The 95% decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan after a drug ban by the Taliban in 2022 has seen global supply shifted to Myanmar, where political, social and economic instability brought about by political changes in 2021 drove many to poppy farming, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report said.

Myanmar farmers now earn about 75% more from opium poppy farming, as average prices of the flower have reached about US$355 per kilogram and the cultivation area has increased by 18% year on year, from 40,100 to 47,000 hectares, boosting the potential yield to its highest level since 2001, the UNODC said.

"The economic, security and governance disruption that followed the military takeover of February 2021 continue to drive farmers in remote areas towards opium to make a living," the report pointed out.