SE-ASIA-opium-poppy-2014-web

Regional Overview
Regional overview
In order to assess the scope of opium poppy cultivation and opium production in Southeast Asia,
UNODC has been conducting opium surveys in cooperation with the Government of Lao People's
Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) since 1992, and the Government of the Republic of the Union of
Myanmar (GOUM) since 2002. Although Thailand has established its own monitoring system, no
data on cultivation and production in Thailand were available for 2014. Consequently, this report
contains the results of the 2014 UNODC‐supported opium poppy cultivation surveys in Lao PDR
and Myanmar.
Opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia
Despite a consistent downward trend in opium poppy cultivation from 1998 to 2006, when
Myanmar experienced an 83% reduction and Lao PDR saw the largest relative decline among the
three countries, opium poppy cultivation in the region has since increased, albeit at a relatively
slow pace. In 2014, a combined total area of over 63,800 hectares of opium poppy cultivation
took place in Myanmar and Lao PDR, which led to an estimated 762 tons of opium being
produced in the two countries. 28
Figure 1: Opium poppy cultivation in Southeast Asia, 1998‐2014 (Hectares)
140,000
120,000
100,000
Hectares
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Lao PDR Myanmar Thailand
Source: Lao PDR/Myanmar: National monitoring systems supported by UNODC; Thailand: Thai Office of the
Narcotics Control Board.
Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar increased from 21,600 hectares in 2006, the year when
opium cultivation reached its lowest level, to 57,600 hectares in 2014. In Lao PDR, poppy
cultivation increased from 1,500 hectares in 2007 to 6,200 hectares in 2014, but due to
differences in the methodology used in 2012, a trend could not be established. Thus, opium
poppy cultivation in the region as a whole has nearly tripled since 2006, reaching over 60,000
hectares.
28
Excluding production in Thailand due to the unavailability of data for the survey year 2014.
13