As of 2020, which country is the largest producer of opium?

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, which can be refined to make heroin. With an estimated annual export value of $1.5-$3 bn, opium is big business, supplying the overwhelming majority of heroin worldwide. A 10% cultivation tax is collected from opium farmers, according to Afghan government officials. The cultivation of the opium poppy to the production of morphine and its subsequent conversion into heroin, all takes place within the country.

The United States spent more than $8 billion over 15 years on efforts to deprive the Taliban of their profits from Afghanistan's opium and heroin trade, from poppy eradication to airstrikes and raids on suspected labs. But the strategy failed. As the US wraps up its longest war, Afghanistan remains the world's biggest illicit opiate supplier and looks certain to remain so as Taliban has taken power in Kabul.

Widespread destruction during the war, millions uprooted from their homes, foreign aid cut, and losses of local spending by departed U.S. - led foreign troops are fueling an economic and humanitarian crisis that is likely to leave many destitute Afghans dependent on the narcotics trade for survival. This chaos is creating conditions for even higher illicit opiate production, a potential boon to the Taliban, according to the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) .