The ongoing potato crisis in Pakistan has drawn extensive media coverage over the past four weeks. Overproduction, coupled with the closure of the Afghanistan border 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.
In addition, the area under h
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