In Asia, illicit opium production has long thrived on the drug – armed conflict nexus. Whether in Burma, in transition between war and peace, or in Afghanistan, where insecurity has largely increased since 2005, illicit opium production can no longer be explained by the funding of warring parties. Instead, it now appears that illicit opium production is largely driven by food deficiency and insecurity. Despite the very different agricultural contexts of Afghanistan, Burma, and Laos, in the 2000s studies and surveys have shown that the main drivers of illicit opium production are the same, that is, food deficiency and insecurity. Of course, food deficiency and insecurity have their own causes. But no matter how diverse these causes may be, opium production appears to be a common answer by farming communities who must cope with insufficient or irregular food production. This is despite the fact that illicit opium production is far from being necessarily an economic activity superior to others : opium production owes its success more to the ability it gives some farmers to overcome the limits of their food production systems rather than to its alleged economic superiority.