OMM Newsroom
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose by 330% in 2026 despite a four-year ban. According to AnewZ, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in an assessment released on Thursday that poppy was cultivated on 43,300 hectares this year, up from 10,200 hectares in 2025.
UNODC estimated that opium production increased from 296 tonnes to 1,466 tonnes. The area under cultivation remains far below the 232,000 hectares recorded in 2022, before the ban. However, poppy cultivation has spread across 16 provinces, with 76% of the fields concentrated in the country’s northeast.
Afghanistan disputes report’s findings
UNODC said farmers were concealing poppy fields among cereal crops and behind walls to avoid eradication. The agency warned that declining opium stocks could lead to further expansion of cultivation and increased heroin smuggling from Afghanistan.
UNODC Executive Director Monika Juma called for closer cooperation between Afghan authorities and the international community. She said: “It is essential for the de facto authorities and the international community to work together to support farming communities.”
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry rejected the report, saying UNODC had relied too heavily on satellite imagery and had not taken eradication efforts into account. According to the ministry, more than 26,000 hectares of narcotic crops were destroyed before the harvest, and its own assessment found that the cultivated area had fallen to almost zero.
The ministry said: “Any assessment that does not take these measures and their results into account is incomplete, unreliable and unfair.” It called on UNODC to disclose its data sources, the dates of the satellite imagery and the method used to account for eradication operations.
Japan calls for continued support for farmers
Japan’s embassy in Kabul welcomed Afghanistan’s anti-narcotics efforts since 2022, while stressing the need for sustained assistance to help farmers move away from poppy cultivation. The embassy said: “Combating drugs requires sustained efforts to reduce poppy cultivation and support alternative livelihoods for former poppy farmers.”
Japan said it had allocated more than $33 million for anti-narcotics measures since 2021. It also signed an additional two-year agreement worth $9.4 million with UNODC in September.
