Punjab seeks alternative potato export routes amid price slump

LAHORE: Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has assured the potato farmers that the provincial government has taken up the matter of export of potatoes through alternate routes to resolve the issue of low prices.

Kirmani said the government viewed farmers’ problems as its own and acknowledged that surplus production often puts downward pressure on prices. He informed the delegation that the Afghan border remains closed under the National Security Policy, adding that the Punjab government has written to the federal authorities regarding alternative export routes. He further stated that the federal government has allowed exports to Central Asian states via Iran.

The minister was talking to a delegation of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI), led by its president, Khalid Mahmood Khokhar, on Monday at the Agriculture House to discuss pressing issues faced by farmers, particularly the price crisis confronting potato and kinnow growers.

MPA Chaudhry Amjad Ali Javaid, Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force) Muhammad Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Directors General Agriculture Naveed Asmat Kahlon and Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, and Project Director PESP Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali were also present at the meeting.

The PKI delegation said that a sharp increase in input costs has made farming increasingly unviable, while growers of potatoes and kinnow are bearing heavy losses due to depressed market prices. They urged the provincial government to initiate timely interventions to ensure fair pricing mechanisms and facilitate exports of surplus produce.

The minister assured the delegation that all possible measures would be taken to minimise farmers’ losses and that close coordination with the federal government would be ensured to facilitate the export of potatoes and kinnow.

Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that following the department’s engagement, Pakistan Kissan Ittehad had withdrawn its call for a protest. He added that the farmers’ demands would be taken up at all relevant forums, and it was agreed to develop joint proposals to address the challenges being faced by the farming community.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026