9,000 Hectares of New Poppy Fields Identified in Pakistan's Balochistan

Satellite analysis by the British firm Alcis has identified more than 9,000 hectares of poppy cultivation in Pakistan's Balochistan province. This finding confirms that opium production is moving across the border from Afghanistan, where the Taliban imposed a ban in 2022.

David Mansfield, a UK-based expert on illicit drugs, stated in an August report for Alcis that the remote borderlands of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran have become a global center for opium production. He attributed this shift to the Taliban's ban and growing instability in the tri-border area.

The new cultivation is concentrated in the Loralai and Killa Abdullah districts of Balochistan. Abdul Qahar Wadan, a former National Assembly member from Killa Abdullah, described the farming as rampant. He alleged that senior military officials and pro-government power brokers take commissions from the growers.

Monawar Hussain, the district's chief administrative officer, rejected those claims. He said cultivation declined after an eradication campaign last year. However, Alcis imagery from 2026 shows no clear evidence of that eradication. An anonymous farmer in Killa Abdullah said growers pay bribes to local authorities through intermediaries.

Lala Jan Kakar, a resident of Killa Abdullah, noted that insecurity, drought, and flash floods have devastated traditional fruit farming. He said the demand and income for poppies now exceed those for fruits. Afghan farmers from Kandahar and Helmand provinces are leasing land in Pakistan, bringing capital and expertise to the region.

These Afghan farmers invest millions of Pakistani rupees in solar-powered wells and share profits with local landowners. Poppies can be harvested twice a year. Many farmers doubled their cultivated land in 2026, which Mansfield described as a stark indication that higher cultivation levels are expected in 2027.

A similar pattern is emerging in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province. Afghan farmers work there as tenants and sharecroppers, often drawing on family ties. Satellite imagery from 2026 shows extensive poppy fields, some using drip irrigation. This costly investment suggests growers who planted in late 2025 expected little risk of eradication.

Iranian authorities have been unable or unwilling to destroy the 2026 crop due to the war against the United States and Israel, which began in late February. Experts expect cultivation to rise further in 2027 as the economy weakens and the province's separatist insurgency intensifies. Mansfield noted that farmers are shifting from mixed farming to large-scale poppy monoculture in both Pakistan and Iran.

Opium cultivation is also rebounding inside Afghanistan. Production is concentrated in Badakhshan Province, which accounts for around half of national output, and several southwestern provinces. Mansfield said southwestern cultivation almost doubled between 2025 and 2026, though it remained concealed within wheat fields and behind compound walls.

A recent Taliban directive bars home searches for poppy or opium without a court order. Mansfield warned that farmers in the southwest may read this as a signal of tolerance. If so, Afghanistan could see a dramatic rise in opium production in 2027. Armed groups in the region compete for tax revenues from the drugs trade, people smuggling, and trade in fuel and minerals.