Afghanistan opium production jumps fivefold, UN finds
Afghanistan opium production climbed about five times in a year, a United Nations drugs survey said, even after the 2022 poppy ban, though totals stay far below pre-ban peaks.
A UNODC survey said Afghanistan opium production rose about fivefold in a year, to just under 1,500 tonnes.
Poppy acreage grew roughly 330 percent, to more than 43,000 hectares from about 10,000 a year earlier.
Levels remain far below the pre-ban era, when some 232,000 hectares were planted.
Taliban authorities say they cleared 22,000 hectares this year; UNODC says many growers hide or stagger crops.
Three-quarters of the planted area is now in the northeast across 16 of 34 provinces.