The facts
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime's satellite-based estimate remains well below the 177,000 hectares cultivated in 2021, before the Taliban's 2022 ban, Reuters reported. [2]
Reuters cited estimated opium sales of US$525 million in 2026 and interviewed farmers who described returning to poppy cultivation because alternative crops did not provide enough income. [2]
Taliban authorities said cultivation was about half the UN estimate and said eradication continued. The checked reporting did not establish the true volume independently. [2]
Still unconfirmed
- Whether the increase will persist, and its eventual effect on international heroin supply, remain unknown.
Sources
References support the numbered facts above. Source checks: 29 Oct 2026, 09:27 UTC.
The underlying new 2026 UNODC survey was not directly retrievable. Independently owned AP and Reuters separately report the estimate, but both rely on UNODC for the cultivation total. Reuters adds original interviews. The figure is attributed and contested, not independently measured by this newsroom.
- UN reports sharp increase in Afghan opium-poppy cultivation
Associated Press · Reporting · 29 Oct 2026
Independent report on the new estimate, not the earlier 2025 crop survey.
- Taliban's poppy ban falters as Afghan farmers say they can't feed their children
Reuters, republished by KTWB · Reporting · 29 Oct 2026
Original reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Sayed Hassib and Ahmad Masih Noori, with writing by Rick Noack. Includes farmer interviews and the Taliban response.