Narro Céspedes calls on Sheinbaum to work for food self-sufficiency

Mexico City. Considering that government programs for the countryside have been insufficient and that imports of corn and other grains have had to be increased, Senator José Narro Céspedes asked the incoming government of Claudia Sheinbaum to collaborate with the peasant and indigenous sectors to achieve food self-sufficiency.

The rural organizations “call for respectful dialogue and to work together” with the next administration. “We do not want to be appendages of the government, but rather to collaborate in the construction of national self-sufficiency and food sovereignty,” said the Morena legislator.

Narro added that “government programs for the countryside are not bad, but they are insufficient. When this government began, “we imported 18 million tons of corn; now we import 24 million. This year will be the year with the highest grain imports, with 44 million tons from various parts of the world. We import wheat, rice, beans and we are the world’s largest importer of milk,” he stressed when participating in the National Forum for Self-Sufficiency and Food Sovereignty.

He added that “the neoliberal model has left the Mexican countryside prostrate, and so far there is no strategy to revitalize it. There are no credits or programs to boost productivity; small producers depend on subsidies.”

For this reason, he estimated that poverty persists in rural areas. More than six million Mexicans who live in the countryside are in that condition. “Unfortunately, important reforms such as the indigenous reform have not been implemented,” and the first neoliberal reform implemented (Article 27 of the Constitution) remains in force. “In this administration we have fought the effects of neoliberalism, except in the countryside,” he said.

Together with leaders of the National Coordinator Plan de Ayala (CNPA), the National Union of Agricultural Workers (UNTA), the Independent Central of Agricultural and Peasant Workers (CIOAC), the Coalition of Democratic Urban and Peasant Organizations (CODUC) and the Social Movement for Land (MST), José Narro stated that “a country is not sovereign if it cannot produce the food it needs. Therefore, the great priority of the next government must be the countryside, with the support of peasants and indigenous communities.”