Economic Analysis of Potato Production in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan: A Case Study of Khenjan County

Potato is one of the major food products in Afghanistan, ranking third after wheat and rice. Accordingly, this study focused on the economic evaluation of potato production in Khenjan County during the 2022-2023 cropping year. In the first place, economic evaluation indicators such as total income, total cost, gross return, profit, return on investment, benefit-cost ratio, and the total product price were analyzed. The optimal level of input usage was also determined through the production function.  The results showed that the average potato yield was 7334 kg per hectare, with an average income of 154,267 Afghanis, a production cost of 65,228 Afghanis, an average profit of 75,058 Afghanis, and a return-on-investment rate of 134.45 percent per hectare. The income-to-cost ratio indicates that an average income of 2.34 Afghanis was generated for every Afghanis spent on potato production. The average total price of potato per Kg was 9.36 Afghanis. The production function results revealed that most of the coefficients were significant, with land, phosphate fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, seed, labor, fungicide and machinery, having a positive effect on production while water having a negative effect. Overall, potato cultivation in the Khenjan district is profitable, and the optimal use of inputs except for water is recommended.  It should be focused on creating storage facilities to reduce seed prices, increasing loan facilities to encourage potato cultivation, optimizing water use, providing suitable labor facilities, and focusing on marketing to increase sales and profitability in potato production.