Agricultural Production and Marketing Constraints in Afghanistan: A Systematic Review with Policy Implications (2010–2025)

Agriculture still forms the largest share of the Afghanistan economy in terms of GDP and is a means of livelihood for the rural population. However, the sector has generally remained stabile due to constraints in production and marketing activities. A comprehensive synthesis that systematically integrates evidence on both production and marketing challenges over the past fifteen years is lacking. This systematic review aims to fill this gap by bringing together fragmented findings and providing a precise analytical framework for evidence-based policymaking. Systematic literature searches were conducted in Google, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus, resulting in research articles that were peer-reviewed and published between 2010 and 2025. In line with the PRISMA 2020 guideline, 40 studies were reviewed, and qualitative thematic synthesis was conducted on these studies. Market access and price-related barriers have been reported in the largest number of articles (62.5%), followed by post-harvest and infrastructural deficiencies (55%), technical and farm management issues (52.5%), natural resource and climate-related problems (50%), and institutional and financial problems (45%). The study found market access and price-related challenges to be the topmost constraint. Importantly, the analysis also reveals that these problems do not act individually but as a closely interlinked system of vulnerabilities. This systematic review develops the first integrative framework that maps the constraints of agriculture in Afghanistan. It is revealed that sustaining the agricultural transformation would require the initiation of coordinated and multi-level policy interventions tackling areas such as market governance, infrastructural development, financial inclusion, and skills upgrading among farmers.