Mexico: Blueberry, papaya, pineapple and blackberry are strategic fruits in Colima

In the context of the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and after 50 years in which authorities didn't elaborate a strategic planning that precisely defined a territorial approach of productive areas, crop vocation, and social capital according to the markets' new trends of supply and demand, the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), has designed a new strategy called the 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan that will improve the discussion about who to sell and buy from agricultural food products. The program will implement public policies and programs to reorient the agricultural food sector so it can adapt better to national and international markets' demands.

The goal of this government initiative is to further diversify the markets so that the country isn't so dependent on a single commercial block (i.e. the United States and Canada), seeking to sell more in Asia, Arab countries, the European Union, trade with Argentina and Brazil, and make alliances with Chile and Central America.

In order to consolidate the primary sector as one of the main engines of the national economy, the authorities created a 12-year plan with which they expect to increase agricultural production by 27.8%, promoting strategic long-term programs between 2017- 2030 that are expected to maximize the production of 38 crops.

The 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan, groups the following basic strategic crops: wheat, crystalline grain and flour; white and yellow corn; coffee, sugarcane, beans, fodder oats and cocoa: oleaginous (canola, sunflower, safflower and soybean), as well as (chickpea sorghum), rice and apple.

In addition, it also takes into account crops with market potential, such as: agave (tequila and mezcal); avocado, cotton; bioenergetics (castor oil, jatropha, sweet sorghum); barley, peppers and peppers; citrus fruits (lemon, orange, grapefruit); strawberry; berries (cranberry, raspberry, blackberry); tomato, pecan nut, oil palm, coconut palm, papaya, pineapple, grape, and vanilla.

The goal is to implement actions and projects that promote optimal yields in strategic regions, according to their agro-climatic and market conditions, so as to increase the agricultural production from 126.3 million tons to 174.5 million tons.

According to estimates, in 2018 Mexico could produce up to 142.8 million tons (4.5% more) and in 2024, 157.9 million (15.6%). The goal is also to exceed the production value achieved in 2016, when the country achieved a record 366.6 billion pesos; in 2018, the country plans to achieve 391.7 billion; in 2024, 443.2, billion, and in 2030, more than 500.3 billion pesos.

The 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan is very important, stated the head of SAGARPA, Jose Calzada Rovirosa. "It tells us what to produce, where to produce it, who should produce it, what is required to do it, the incentives there are, and what the new technologies that are in vogue to improve production so that Mexico and the world have more food, and, above all, that producers have a bigger income," he said. (JCR. Presentation "SAGARPA launches the 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan", Siempre 88P. 08/30/2017).

Another objective to be achieved is aligning the Mexican agricultural policy with the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), to fulfill the commitment contracted by Mexico before the UN.

The 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan provides a dynamic route of action, objectives and goals so that the public, private, academic and research sectors can achieve sustained and sustainable growth of the Mexican countryside.

The 2017-2030 National Agricultural Plan considers 4 crops have a strategic priority: blueberry, papaya, pineapple, and blackberry. 

In the last three decades these crops have contributed to reconvert the Colima countryside to the point that they reached significant figures at the national level in 2016, for example, the value of Colima's papaya production ranked 2nd (18% of the total value of production); while blueberry production ranked 4th (7.8%); pineapple production ranked 4th (4.8%), and blackberry production ranked third (0.6%). 

Graphs 1,2,3 and 4, depict the positioning of the strategic fruits of Colima in the Mexico's agricultural food sector in 2016, based on their production value. They show real figures of the supply of said crops but also demonstrate the purpose of reaching the goal stipulated in the PED-2016-2021, "Goal 4. Obtaining the first place in exports in three agricultural products" (sic). (State Development Plan-Colima 2016-2021, page 17).

Colima is a state with an agricultural vocation and a large part of the products it exports are agricultural foodstuffs. The state only adds a first added value to its products because of their short life and because of the state's productive plant's limited capacity and the lack of a commercial logistics infrastructure.

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