Agriculture Programs in Times of COVID-19
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Agriculture Programs in Times of COVID-19

Photo by:   Wikimedia Commons (Photo of Víctor Villalobos, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)
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Jan Hogewoning By Jan Hogewoning | Journalist and Industry Analyst - Mon, 06/01/2020 - 14:25

On Friday, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Victor Villalobos, said his ministry is taking action to ensure the production and storage of foods during this newest phase in the sanitary contingency. Speaking during a press conference to present advances to the Programs for Well-Being, he pointed out that the ministry’s priority programs are helping small scale producers sustain and improve their production. According to the minister, small and medium-sized producers account for 50 percent of the foods that we consume in Mexico.

One of the priority programs Villalobos referred to is Fertilizantes para el Bienestar (Fertilizers for Well-Being), which is an offshoot of the Fertilizer Program which was run in past administrations. This year, the state of Guerrero was marked as a priority destination for government-subsidized fertilizers. During the press conference, Deputy Minister of agriculture Miguel García Winder notified the public that the program for Guerrero had reached 63 percent of fertilizer storage capacity (which is roughly equivalent to 100 tons of available fertilizer) and that the 110 distribution centers in the state were now stocked and providing to farmers. He indicated that 73 out of 81 municipalities in the state were now tending to farmers, with 45,235 producers of maize, beans and rice on less than 2ha having been helped already.

García explained that collaboration between the three government levels, federal, state and municipal, had improved. In addition, authorities had sought to integrate collaboration with educational and research institutes to provide technical seminars and workshops to farmers in Spanish and local indigenous languages. In the third week of April, SADER announced that it had reviewed measures to minimize physical contact between the distributors and the farmers. Farmers were given different options to prove their right to participate in the program without having to register at a local office with an official. The final goal of the program, García reiterated this Friday, is to reach 280,000 producers this year in the state, amounting to 500,000ha in 81 municipalities. The budget assigned to this operation currently stands at MX$310 million (US$14.1 million).

The fertilizer program has not been without criticism. In February this year, protests arose from representatives of different ejidos in Guerrero against alleged corruption and inefficient management of the fertilizer program at a state level during 2019.

Other programs that have been connected to helping farmers through the current economic hardship have been the Production for Well-Being program, the guaranteed price scheme and Sembrando Vida. Debate reported on 28th of May, that the agency for Mexican food security (SEGALMEX) had increased subsidy support to maize producers in Sonora, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas by 25 percent. This support helped guarantee a going rate of MX$359.69 (US$16.32) per ton of maize, while previously standing at MX$289.60 (US$13.14). Sembrando Vida saw a push when President López Obrador announced on April 6 this year that the program was aiming to add another 200,000 participants. This initiative, aiming to establish agro-forestry projects around the country through transplanting trees from local nurseries to farm land, was sped up in light of the impending impact of COVID-19 on national unemployment rates.

Photo by:   Wikimedia Commons (Photo of Víctor Villalobos, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)

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