Cultivation Ag

The ongoing potato crisis in Pakistan has drawn extensive media coverage over the past four weeks. Overproduction, coupled with the closure of the Afghanistan bor-der since mid-October 2025, has caused a market crash, with supply exceeding demand to the point that potatoes are being used as livestock feed. So, the potato sector stands as a classic example of policy and planning failures in the agriculture sector that result in the waste of the country’s precious resources.

The current oversupply of potatoes stems largely from a bandwagon effect. In recent years, the crop yielded relatively higher profits, which induced farmers to increase its acreage significantly in both Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In 2024–25 alone, Pakistan’s potato area grew by 14 per cent, reaching 953,000 acres, with a production volume of 9.4 million tonnes. In Punjab, which produces roughly 95pc of the country’s potatoes, the area further expanded by 24pc in 2025–26.

As a result of these factors, potato production in the 2025–26 season is expected to reach 12m tonnes. Unfortunately, the government failed to anticipate this growing trend and did not expand exports accordingly in previous years. Meanwhile, domestic consumption and exports of potato value-added products have also lagged behind the surge in production.

While many believe that reopening the bor-der could help the situation, production levels are so high that even if exports match prior levels, they would still be inadequate to fully absorb the surplus

Another factor adding pressure to the market is last year’s potato stocks held in cold storage facilities. Due to the bor-der closure, these stocks — unlike in previous years — lasted until mid-January. Resultantly, the current crop has neither been exported nor absorbed by the domestic market in significant quantities so far. Consequently, over 80pc of the current harvest has yet to arrive in February and March.

Due to the market crash, farmers are facing massive financial losses at a time when they are already burdened with costly agricultural inputs.