The serious problems that corn producers faced this year to achieve the fair marketing of their crops They were fostered for various reasons, but mainly due to the excessive imports that were made of the grain, denounces César Enrique Galaviz Lugo.
The president of the Río Fuerte Sur Farmers Association, César Enrique Galaviz Lugo, pointed out that according to an investigation carried out by this organization, it was detected that from 2018 to 2022 corn imports to Mexico went from 16.8 to 20.5 million tons, what it meant a rise of 22 percentand this has been reducing spaces for producers to place national production.
I consider that 2023 has been a truly difficult year that will remain marked in the memory of all the agricultural producers of Sinaloa, due to the multiple factors that appeared from the beginning and were generating a terrible scenario that had never been experienced before.
On the subject of commercial agriculture, all the bad things were adding up this year, when it was not the excessive production costs, it was the lack of budgetary policies or the lousy marketing market, but what we must take into account is that the issue of importing corn into Mexico did significantly damage us, this was what led us to misfortune in the domestic market.”
The farmers’ leader pointed out that it is precisely at this point that governments must pay attention in future years because if the trend of prioritizing imports over national production continues, there will be very serious consequences for the permanence of the national productive plant.
“This increasing dependence on corn imports has had a significant impact on producers in Mexico.. Competition with imported grain, coming mainly from the United States, Brazil and South Africa, has caused a reduction in local corn prices, which directly affects farmers’ income. In addition, the volatility of international prices has generated uncertainty in the sector, which will lead us not to continue with the activity if things continue like this,” said Galaviz Lugo.
Reliance on imports has put domestic grain producers at a disadvantage.
Many farmers face difficulties to compete in the market due to the higher production costs they face compared to foreign producers, who have subsidies from their governments, being the United States the one that provides the most support to its farmers and is the one from whom Mexico buys the most corn, the more dependence, the more disadvantage.
“It is important that the government of our country take into account that excessive dependence on imports threatens Mexico’s food self-sufficiency and it can jeopardize the stability of local prices in the future… it is essential that our governments intervene more for the next cycle… I repeat: they should not abandon the farmers”, indicated César Galaviz.
The agricultural leader reiterated that, in order to guarantee the comprehensive development of national corn production, the government must implement mechanisms that provide security and stability to producers in terms of prices; something that could be achieved through the creation of stabilization funds to cushion international price fluctuations and protect national producers.
collapsed market
For his part, Miguel Ángel López Miranda, president of the League of Agrarian Communities of Sinaloa, considered that definitivelye this has been one of the worst years they have faced for the commercialization of corn in Sinaloa, since with the exception of the 1.5 million tons that will be acquired by Segalmex and the state government, the rest, about 4.5 million, have had to be traded in a free market that unfortunately was operated by intermediaries.
“Hopefully this is not the harbinger of worse years,” stressed the CNC leader in the state.
- Haven’t you taken a tour of Amazon? Look THIS LINK your best products
#Corn #debacle #caused #excessive #imports #grain