Myanmar Destroys RM2.5 Bln Worth Of Seized Drugs, Promotes Coffee As Alternative To Opium Poppy

By Vijian Paramasivam

PHNOM PENH June 27 (Bernama) -- Myanmar is urging opium poppy farmers to switch to coffee cultivation as part of efforts to curb narcotics production, while the government destroyed illicit drugs and precursors worth US$603 (RM2.5 billion) on Friday.

According to the Myanmar Police Force, the contraband was seized across the country between June 2025 and May this year, reported state media The Global New Light of Myanmar.

The government has embarked on a long-term “alternative development” sustainable project promoting coffee and tea cultivation for rural farmers to earn income.

Home Minister Lt-Gen Nyunt Win Swe said narcotics production and trafficking continue to pose serious threats to national security, prompting the government to accelerate efforts to replace opium cultivation with legal cash crops.

“We are confronting the complex realities of opium poppy cultivation, the large‑scale production of synthetic narcotics, and the rampant abuse and trafficking that fuel instability within our borders.

“The country has designated the fight against narcotics as a national priority and has accelerated operations with unwavering resolve,” said the minister on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.

His message was published by the state media on Friday.

As an annual ceremony to mark the international day, Myanmar torched heroin, opium, stimulant tablets, methamphetamine, cannabis, ketamine and ecstasy in Yangon.

To tackle the drug menace, past and present governments have been promoting coffee and tea cultivation, with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board.

The pilot project, from 2024 to 2029, is being implemented in 65 villages.

In 2024, over 153 tonnes of coffee from the Hopong and Loilem regions were exported to France, and that figure rose to over 255 tonnes last year.

More than six tonnes of dried coffee beans from the Naungtayar region were sent to Thailand for value‑added processing last year, reported The Global New Light of Myanmar.

According to UNODC’s “Myanmar Opium Survey 2025”, opium poppy cultivation was at a ten-year peak, largely fuelled by rising farmgate prices.

In 2019, farmgate prices of opium skyrocketed from US$160 (RM662) per kilogramme to US$ 365 (RM1,510) per kilogramme  in 2025.

Myanmar also emerged as the main source of illicit opium in the world, overtaking Afghanistan, said the global agency.

The UNODC introduced the Alternative Development Programme to assist countries in slashing the local community’s dependence on illicit economies and replacing them with legal cash crops.

-- BERNAMA