Domestic production suffered a significant drop with respect to the previous year. National Corn Day is celebrated on September 29, but on this occasion Mexico has little to celebrate.
Considering the aspects that concern productivity and self-sufficiency of the most consumed grain in the nation, it is important to note the following
With about 26.5 million tons, the country’s corn production decreased by one million tons in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Thus, 950,238 tons will not be produced in Mexico.
Under this scenario, in the current six-year term, Mexico’s corn self-sufficiency index, that is, the result between supply and consumption, is at its lowest level since 1994.
According to data from Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas (GCMA).
Thus, while during Ernesto Zedillo’s administration the country reached, on average, a corn self-sufficiency index of 82%.
So far during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, this figure stands at 62%.
Luis Eduardo González Cepeda, president of the Mexican Union of Manufacturers and Formulators of Mexico (UMFFMAC), said that the biggest challenge facing corn productivity is the lack of public policies aimed at improving yields per hectare.
“It is not possible that a decade ago, in 2012, yields were 3.19 tons per hectare, and that in 2022 yields were 3.90 tons in the same area, insufficient growth for what the country demands.”
For the specialist, the current results are due to a lack of technification and science, an issue that neither the previous governments nor the current one have taken into consideration.
The future scenario is not better, since the spring-summer cycle harvests in the Bajío, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas and Gulf of Mexico states registered drops in their yields due to the lack of rain this year.
These could be replicated in the main producing states, such as Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Sonora, which are about to start the autumn-winter cycle, warned the GCMA.
“Should the lack of water prevail, Sinaloa’s production could fall from 5.5 million metric tons, which are obtained in a year with normal weather conditions, to a range of 2 to 2.5 million tons, and Sonora’s would fall from 500,000 to a range of 80,000 to 100,000 tons.”
The specialists warned.
TYT Newsroom
