Punjab produces 97.8% of potatoes in Pakistan in 2022-23: Gallup Pakistan Analysis of MNFS&R & PBS data

ISLAMABAD, June 07 (SABAH): Punjab produces 97.8% of potatoes in Pakistan in 2022-23, moreover, Pakistanis are estimated to have consumed over Rs. 173 billion worth of potatoes in 2023.

A recent comprehensive analysis conducted by Gallup Pakistan on the “Fruits, Vegetables and Condiments Statistics of Pakistan, 2022-23” by the Economic Wing at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R), and the Household Integrated Economic Survey 2018-19 data by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has unveiled noteworthy trends in the production and expenditure towards various fruits and vegetables. The analysis, covering data from the past five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 goes in depth into the national and provincial land allocation, towards the cultivation of food crops, their production, and average household expenditures across wealth quintiles towards their consumption.

This press release focuses on Potatoes, and is part of a series by Gallup Pakistan which will be looking into the above-mentioned details for various fruits and vegetables, which are staples in the country to identify current trends to inform future resource allocation and policy decisions on the matter.

The previous press release in this series focusing on Onions can be accessed here.

Rojah Sheikh, an Assistant Manager Research at Gallup Pakistan says, “It is very important for an agrarian country such as ourselves to be making informed policy decisions when it comes to agriculture and food security. Through the data driven insights explored in this series we will be able to achieve some transparency in the production and consumption patterns for various fruits and vegetables common in Pakistan, and we hope that this in turn encourages dialogue on how to utilize our resources best so that our economy may reap the most benefits.”

Key Findings:

A total area of 0.341 million hectares in Pakistan was recorded to be utilized to farm potatoes in the year 2022-23.

The total area cultivated for potatoes has increased overall by 0.145 million hectares as compared to the reported figure of 0.196 million hectares in 2018-19, with land allocation towards potato farming having steadily increased in the past four years, after a minor decrease between 2018-19 and 2019-20.

In 2022-23 Punjab utilized 0.327 million hectares towards potato farming, this was followed by 11,529 hectares in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,713 hectares in Balochistan, and only 355 hectares in Sindh. In terms of proportion, Punjab continually makes up the largest segment, accounting for 93.5% of the total land allocated towards potato farming in Pakistan in 2018-19, having now further increased to 96% in 2022-23.  A total of 8.32 million tonnes of potatoes were produced in Pakistan in the year 2022-23.

Potato production in Pakistan has steadily increased in Pakistan in the past five years, by 3.45 million tonnes, from the 4.87 million tonnes reportedly produced at the national level in 2018-19. Across provinces, Punjab reports the highest production of potatoes, with 8.14 million tonnes produced in 2022-23, followed by 0.16 million tonnes produced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17,016 tonnes produced in Balochistan, and 3,257 tonnes produced in Sindh in 2022-23.

National production of potatoes since 2018-19 has increased by 3.451 million tonnes, of which 3.445 million tonnes are attributed to increased production in Punjab. In terms of proportion, Punjab continually makes up the largest segment, accounting for 96.4% of the total potato production in Pakistan in 2018-19, having now further increased to 97.8% in 2022-23. In 2018-19 the proportion of land allocation towards potato farming, and potato production across provinces suggests that despite the highest land allocation and production, Punjab also has a higher yield when compared to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With the latter having a higher proportional land allocation compared to proportional national production.

According to the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) of 2018-19, an average household spends Rs. 212.22 on potatoes in a month. This makes up 0.56% of their overall household expenditure, 1.58% of their total expenditure on food, and 16.70% of their total expenditure on vegetables. The data suggests that the average household spends more in a month on potatoes, than onions or tomatoes, despite all three being staples.

Across wealth quintiles, we can observe that the proportional expense on potatoes decreases as wealth increases. This is true across proportional household expenditure, food expenditure, as well as vegetable expenditure. Pakistanis are estimated to have consumed over Rs. 173 billion worth of potatoes in 2023.