A UN report says Myanmar has become the world's largest source of opium due to the country's instability and a plunge in production by previous top supplier Afghanistan.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, released this year's Southeast Asia Opium Survey on Tuesday.

The report says Myanmar's area of opium poppy cultivation is estimated to have grown to 47,100 hectares, up 18 percent from last year. It adds that the country's opium yield for this year is estimated at 1,080 tons, the most since 2001.

The report notes that cultivation areas have expanded by 20 percent in the eastern Shan State, where fighting between the military and armed ethnic minority groups has intensified.

It says farmers in Myanmar now earn about 75 percent more from opium poppy growing, as the flower is being sold for 355 dollars per kilogram, up 27 percent from last year.

The report says the growth in cultivation came after farmers turned to the lucrative cash crop to survive after the country's military coup in 2021.

The report also says opium poppy production in Afghanistan is thought to have plunged by 95 percent this year. It adds that the Taliban, which now control the country, have imposed a strict ban on the flower's cultivation.