Mexico City.- In the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, rural producers not only ran out of water in the face of the most severe drought in 50 years, but also support programs with federal resources fell in dribs and drabs.
According to an analysis prepared by the Agricultural Market Consulting Group (GCMA), at the beginning of the AMLO Government, in 2019, of the almost 50 existing programs channeled through the Ministry of Agriculture (Sader), 24 were eliminated and only They created eight through Production for Mexican Food Safety and Wellbeing (Segalmex).
Those dedicated to financing and promoting productivity were the hardest hit.
For example, in 2019, the Rural Sector Capitalization and Investment Fund practically disappeared, as well as those for Livestock, Fisheries and Agriculture Development, which went from being individual to being segmented into a single scheme, with a single pool of resources.
Another hard blow was the disappearance of Financiera Nacional de Desarrollo, while the flagship program of the 4T Production for Wellbeing is practically the same as the previous Proagro, which offered support for small agricultural production units.
Rogelio García Moreno, agricultural vice president of the National Agricultural Council (CNA), considered that climate change was one of the main challenges among farmers.
He urged the new Government of Claudia Sheinbaum to resume public policies focused on financing, which, in addition to allowing production processes to be modernized, give way to having coverage, having liquidity to start planting and making it possible to obtain profitability.
“The Budget will begin to be discussed during the time of President López Obrador, but it will be approved during the time of Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum. So we will have to work very hard to be able to return some support, agricultural insurance, we will have to see the topic of field financing.
“It is a gigantic issue where the federal government has the great responsibility of how it is going to solve the great problem of financing the countryside,” said García Moreno.
#snip #rural #support #programs
