It is imperative to implement financial inclusion strategies in the agricultural sector to foster interest in developing and consolidating economic activities with structures that efficiently channel financial resources in a profitable manner.
Mérida, Yucatán, (June 29, 2021).- Yucatán is a state in the southeast of the country located in the physiographic region called the Yucatán Peninsula and is made up of 106 municipalities with 2,434 communities, of which, according to data from Inegi (2020), 2,429 are rural and only 5 are classified as urban.
The total population of Yucatán is made up of just over 2.26 million inhabitants with a total Economically Active Population (EAP) of 1.11 million inhabitants.
Of the total population, 15.5% is considered rural population, and the rest 84.5% is considered urban. 40.8% of the population lives in conditions of poverty, but 6.7% lives in conditions of extreme poverty, which leads to locating the entity with a high degree of marginalization (place 7), with 68 municipalities with a high degree of marginalization.
Derived from the proximity to Cancun and the Riviera Maya, growth has been generated in the supply chain of all kinds to those places, causing 90.1% of the economically active population to work in activities focused on services, commerce, and industry and only 9.7% do so in the agricultural sector.
Therefore, it is imperative to implement financial inclusion strategies in the agricultural sector to promote the interest of developing and consolidating economic activities with structures that efficiently channel the necessary financial resources in a profitable manner and in sufficient volume to serve the largest number of users of credit.
Faced with this scenario, there are several challenges in the sector, among them, promoting access to financing for producers from the less developed strata with viable projects but who do not have or do not have sufficient access to credit.
Likewise, there is the challenge of promoting schemes that include measures to mitigate the impact of agricultural activities on ecosystems, where financial inclusion should guide the diversification of agricultural production and balance it with income in marginalized areas and care for the environment.
Therefore, it is essential to carry out actions and mechanisms that allow increasing productivity in grains (soy, corn, sorghum), cattle, honey, fishing, citrus, optimizing the use of resources.
With the mappings of the different value networks such as; octopus, pork, honey, beef, fruit growing, and rural financing, business opportunities have been detected, estimating about 200 million pesos (mp) for 731 companies and 1,577 producers to structure a design of credit schemes.
The foregoing is a matter for increasing financial inclusion and considering implementation in the main value networks, which join forces of different actors with technical and business skills, to generate greater added value.
As an example, there are the honey and citrus networks that could eventually obtain loans with a guarantee for the tractors and medium-sized companies of the state and link a greater number of producers in the sector.
Source: El Economista