World’s largest opium producer

Why in news?

Leaving behind Afghanistan, Myanmar has become the world’s leading producer of opium. 

Key Points: 

• According to UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) economic and political crisis and widening conflict between the military and armed group is driving farmers towards illicit opium poppy production.
•  Most significant increases were registered in the Shan state, which lies in the so-called Golden Triangle, considered to be the hub of narcotic production and smuggling.
• The cultivation there increased by 20 per cent, followed by Chin and Kachin states – bordering India –where it increased by 10 per cent and six per cent, respectively.
• The expansion of opium cultivation is feeding a growing illicit economy in the Mekong region.