DEVELOPMENT OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND FUNCTIONS OF POTATO CROP

The study in hand was carried out to investigate into determinants of supply and demand functions of potato crop in Pakistan. The supply and demand functions of potato crop in Pakistan, specified as a Simultaneous-Equations Recursive (SER) model, yielded the empirical results which revealed that the Domestic Supply (Sd) function of potato was determined by domestic price (Pd), nutrient-fertilizers used (FNTPO) and credit available (CAT). The domestic demand (Dd) has been determined by domestic price (Pd), Pakistan s per capita income (PCI) and Pakistan s population (POT). The export demand (Ed) of potato was influenced by Pakistan s average export trade price, GDP of the world (GDPWD) and world levels of supply (Sw) and export (Ew) of potato. Based on empirical results, study recommends that Government has to create such an environment where the producers get due return on their farm investment. Moreover, Government s input policy should take care of adequate supply of various nutrient-fertilizers, availability at appropriate times and recommended usage at farm level. Similarly, government should allocate sufficient credit for potato producers. In addition, Government investment should be focused on potato research and development and transferring research results to farmers fields as envisaged in the Green Box of Agreement on Agriculture and other WTO agreements.