Yucatan Peninsula against transgenic products for better honey production

Bees pollinate 71 of the 100 species of crops in the world, but climate change, pesticides and parasites are exterminating them. To obtain a kilo of honey, a bee makes an average of 200 thousand flights…

MERIDA – The Yucatan Peninsula is legally protected against the sowing of transgenic corn and soy, thanks to the resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which guarantees producers not only the commercialization they already have with the European market, but also the conquest of alternative markets in Asia and Latin America.

An appeal granted by the 1^st Court District in 2012 revoked the experimental farming permits that the agricultural and environmental authorities granted to the transnational company Monsanto, promoter of transgenic products, so it can’t plant its products in Yucatan, because to contravene this provision would be violating the federal protection.

In the legal aspect, the lawyer of the environmental organization Greenpeace Mexico, María Colín Olmos, explained that Yucatan is the first State in the country to achieve this declaration by court order, which becomes a huge civic and environmental victory because 25,000 families depend on the production of honey. The cultivation of transgenic grains would affect an entire economy of the whole productive sector.

The exporter Federico Berrón said that in 2011 and 2012 shipments of contaminated honey were detected and that influenced the low prices in the European market.

On the other hand, Mexico stands out in the top ten of honey production with 57 thousand tons per year occupying the fifth place in the world; Yucatán and Campeche are the main producers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa), Mexico annually produces more than 57 thousand tons of honey, with which the country is placed as the fifth producer worldwide of this product.

Source: www.laverdadnoticias.com