KABUL —Afghanistan’s once-booming opium industry has shrunk sharply, with cultivation dropping by 20 percent in 2025, according to a new United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report. However, the UN has warned that this decline has been accompanied by a significant surge in synthetic drug production, particularly methamphetamine.The report said the area under opium poppy cultivation fell from 12,800 to 10,200 hectares this year, a fraction of the 232,000 hectares cultivated before the Taliban’s nationwide poppy ban came into effect in 2022.

Taliban’s Ban Reshapes Afghanistan’s Drug Economy

After returning to power in 2021, the Taliban outlawed poppy cultivation across the country the following year, ending decades of dependency on the illicit crop that once made Afghanistan the world’s largest opium producer. In 2013, Afghanistan supplied about 74 percent of the world’s opium.

Following the ban, many farmers shifted to growing cereals and other legal crops. But worsening drought and declining rainfall have left more than 40 percent of farmland barren, the UNODC said. Afghanistan’s total opium production was estimated at 296 tonnes in 2024, placing it behind Myanmar for the first time in decades. Farmer revenues also plunged by nearly 48 percent, falling to around $134 million this year.

Economic Pain but Persisting Demand

Despite the production drop, opium prices remain nearly five times higher than before the ban due to limited supply and strong global demand. Before the prohibition, Afghan farmers produced over 4,600 tonnes of opium annually, even at great personal risk.

The destruction of processing equipment and the displacement of poppy cultivation have also reshaped the geography of production. The UN report notes that northeastern provinces like Badakhshan have now become the main centers of resistance to the Taliban’s crackdown. In May 2024, clashes between farmers and Taliban forces enforcing the ban resulted in several deaths.

Shift Toward Synthetic Drugs

The UNODC expressed growing concern over the rapid rise of synthetic narcotics, warning that criminal networks are increasingly turning to methamphetamine as an alternative source of income. Seizures of methamphetamine in Afghanistan and neighboring countries rose by 50 percent in late 2024 compared with the previous year.“Synthetic drugs have become a new economic model for organized criminal groups due to their easy production, difficulty of detection, and resistance to climate pressures,” the UNODC report noted.

Global Implications and Need for Support

The UN has urged the international community to support Afghan farmers in developing alternative livelihoods, a call echoed by the Taliban administration, which continues to struggle with widespread poverty and unemployment.

Experts warn that while the Taliban’s poppy ban has drastically reduced opium production, the shift toward synthetic drugs poses a far more complex and global challenge, potentially altering the future dynamics of the international narcotics trade.