Food Production in 2021 Expected to Outperform 2020

Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) estimates an 0.5 percent increase in agriculture, livestock and fish production during 2021.  The country is expected to achieve approximately 290.7 billion tons in production against 2020’s 289.3 billion tons. As a result, the country is being recognized as the third-largest agricultural producer in Latin America and the 12th worldwide, according to Agri-food and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP).

Víctor Manuel Villalobos Arámbula, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, presented the Food Expectations 2121 report, highlighting that the sector grew 2 percent while the overall economy fell 9.8 percent because of the pandemic MBN informs. The Ministry is confident that the industry has proved to be resilient in production despite facing adverse conditions.  Lina Pohl Alfaro, the representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Mexico, emphasized that the country succeeded in preventing the health crisis from turning into a food crisis, which implied a tremendous effort from government, the public, producers and research centers, El Financiero informs.

However, the country’s severe droughts and wildfires could affect the Ministry’s predictions. As previously reported by MBN, the National Water Commission (Conagua) announced that 83.9 percent of the country is going through a drought. The situation has shrank water resources and has been further aggravated by an increase in wildfires. So far this year, the National Forestry Agency (Conafor) has documented 4,129 fires in 30 of the 32 states of the country. The situation has led Sader and Conafor to combine efforts and resources to promote actions that would preventing fires in the country's agricultural areas.

Some of the most affected states are Guerrero, Sonora and Veracruz. For example, Guerrero saw the destruction of 1,000 Ha of its lemon crops due to the drought and forest fires. Jorge Luna Sánchez, President of the Limón State Council in Guerrero, told el Sol de Acapulco that the division has not received support from authorities yet, EFE informs.

Despite the challenging conditions, the agricultural sector could grow by 0.3 percent, going from 263.9 billion tons in 2020 to 264.7 billion tons in the final quarter of 2021, according to Sader. The industry anticipates a 2.2 percent growth in the livestock sector, going from 23.6 tons in 2020 to 24.1 billion in 2021. The fish industry expects a rise of 5.3 percent with a production of 1,904 billion tons against 1,809 billion tons in 2020. Still, several analysts remark on the importance of a healthy environment, warning that the dependence on the industrialized model of food production has led to a heavy reliance on pesticides. Chemically synthetized fertilizers can have a direct impact on agribusiness production