Kyrgyzstan: Potato Harvest Falls 7.5% to 1.19 Million Tonnes as Area Shrinks 8.4%
Kyrgyzstan dug 1.19 million tonnes of potatoes in 2024, down 7.5%, as the area fell 8.4%. Yields rose to 17.9 t/ha, but output is barely above the 2000 level.
Kyrgyzstan harvested 1,190.2 thousand tonnes of potatoes in 2024, according to the National Statistical Committee. That was 7.5% less than in 2023, when the harvest was 1,286.8 thousand tonnes. The area under potatoes fell by 8.4%.
The yield improved slightly. It reached 178.7 centners per hectare, or 17.9 t/ha. That was 2.8 centners more than a year earlier. FAOSTAT, published by Our World in Data, shows the same volume for 2024.
A flat quarter century
The long-term picture is flat. In 2000, Kyrgyzstan produced 1.05 million tonnes, according to FAOSTAT. The yield was 15.2 t/ha. By 2014, output had risen to 1.32 million tonnes. The 2024 harvest was only about 14% above the 2000 level.
Weekdays. Unsubscribe in one click.
The area has hardly changed. The planted area was 66,400 hectares in 2024, according to the agriculture ministry, as reported by EastFruit. The FAOSTAT data imply about 69,000 hectares in 2000. Growth over 24 years therefore came from yields, which rose by about 18%.
Neighbours grew faster
Other Central Asian producers expanded much more. FAOSTAT shows 3.72 million tonnes in Uzbekistan in 2024, against 0.73 million tonnes in 2000. Kazakhstan produced 2.63 million tonnes, up from 1.69 million tonnes. Tajikistan reached 1.26 million tonnes, up from 0.30 million tonnes.
Kyrgyzstan was once the second producer in this group after Kazakhstan. It is now the smallest of the four.
Ministry warns against chasing prices
Strong demand from the Eurasian Economic Union and neighbouring countries lifted prices in 2024, EastFruit reported. The Ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture and Processing Industry then advised farmers not to expand potato plantings. Officials warned that bigger areas driven by high prices could lower market prices and farm income.
The ministry also expected neighbouring countries to increase their own areas. It recommended that farmers focus on productivity and new technologies instead.
Why it matters
Kyrgyzstan has kept its potato area but lost ground in the region. Neighbours with larger programmes now supply much bigger volumes. Kyrgyz growers therefore compete in the same export markets with a smaller base.
The official advice points to yield, not land. At 17.9 t/ha, the national average leaves room for gains from better seed and inputs.
Photo: Potato harvest in Armenia (not Kyrgyzstan) (illustrative). Narek75 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
