Myanmar opium farming booming after coup: UN

A member of Pat Jasan, a grassroots organisation motivated by their faith to root out the destructive influence of drugs, holds poppies as his group uproots them from a hillside in the northern Kachin State, Myanmar in this file photo from Feb 3, 2016. - AP

BANGKOK (AFP): Opium poppy production in Myanmar ramped up dramatically following the 2021 military coup, the UN's drugs office said Thursday (Jan 26), as political and economic turmoil drove farmers to cultivate the crop.

The country's economy has been paralysed following the military power grab in February 2021 and subsequent fighting between the junta and anti-coup rebels.