The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased sharply in 2026, although cultivation remains well below levels recorded before the ban on poppy farming.
The UNODC’s 2026 Afghanistan Opium Survey estimates that poppy cultivation rose from about 10,000 hectares in 2025 to more than 43,000 hectares this year. Cultivation was recorded in 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, compared with 11 provinces in 2025.
The UN agency said farmers were adapting their methods to avoid detection, including hiding small poppy plots among cereal fields, cultivating inside walled compounds and changing planting and harvesting schedules.
Helmand remained a major area of cultivation, with more than 90% of fields in the province reportedly concealed through such methods. The UNODC warned that the increase could pose new challenges to efforts to control drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan and the wider region.
