Nairobi  - Global opium production doubled between 2005 and 2007 to 8,870 metric tons, driven by a large increase in the amount of area under cultivation in Afghanistan, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Thursday.

The UNODC's 2008 World Drug Report said that the area under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose by 17 per cent in 2007, following on from a rise of 33 per cent the previous year.

According to the report, Afghanistan accounted for over 92 per cent of global opium production in 2007.

Dr Reychad Abdool, of the UNODC's East Africa office, said that the amount of opium produced in Afghanistan was directly related to how much control the Afghan government and international forces had over regions of the restive nation.

"In areas where security was good, there was a decrease in cultivated area or a reduction," he told journalists at the launch of the report in Nairobi. "The production went up in areas where security was bad."

He warned that Afghanistan was also becoming a "significant player in the production of cannabis resin."

Opium poppy cultivation in South-East Asia has also risen by 22 per cent after six years of decline, driven by a 29-per-cent increase in Myanmar. (dpa)