Insecurity “freezes” up to 80% of agricultural products: Canacintra

Mexico City. Up to 80 percent of agri-food production is affected by the insecurity experienced in some areas of the country, said the National Chamber of the Processing Industry (Canacintra), a private sector organization that celebrated the security strategy presented by President Claudia. Sheinbaum Pardo.

“The roads are very safe, the problem is in the central area, in the Bajío area. The problem of the avocado, the lemon issue, is not strange,” said Esperanza Ortega, leader of the private initiative organization in a forum to present the third edition of the International Agroindustrial Forum (FIA), which will be held from October 31 to October 1. November in Mexico City.

The board of directors of the group that represents small and medium-sized industrialists commented that the insecurity that affects those who are in the agroindustry occurs in small areas of some of the federal entities of the national territory, without this being all year round, but rather it is temporarily.

There are “areas of the country where insecurity really hinders a very important percentage, there are parts where 80 percent of production is frozen or is paying floor rights,” said Sergio Sosa, president of the agroindustrial sector of Canacintra.

He added that this branch of the secondary sector is not exempt from insecurity, since it affects the transportation of products, the collection of land rights, and the virtual kidnappings suffered by producers.

He indicated that in certain parts of the country, producers are taken to places such as hotels where they are locked up, and then ask for a ransom for it, leaving the families’ accounts blank.

“Not even how to report it, because if they report it, you already know that if they catch it, it will be released on bail and I think that there we are going to ask that the laws be adjusted, that virtual efforts should be considered as kidnapping, not as extortion” Sosa said.

He highlighted that only agricultural producers from certain regions of states such as Veracruz, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas are the most affected by organized crime, so the situation is not generalized and the impact may be less in other areas.

However, he pointed out that Canacintra fully supports the strategy proposed by the government of President Sheinbaum Pardo to combat insecurity. “We celebrate it and declare ourselves as collaborators,” he said.

“We really liked the approach of Omar García (head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection), in the sense that they are going to work on the territory and are going to focus efforts on what is harming the population the most and which is leading to “The greater the feeling of insecurity, because beyond the insecurity itself is the feeling that we as citizens feel,” Sosa said.

The president of the agroindustrial sector of Canacintra commented that this private sector organization supports the existence of state companies focused on seeds, but as long as corruption is avoided.

“Parastatal companies focused on seeds existed in Mexico since the time of Lázaro Cárdenas and were successful. The part where they were not successful was corruption, but those improved seeds that the government distributed for many years allowed the positive evolution of production, especially corn, beans, wheat, and sorghum. The government distributed improved seeds, so we welcome the resumption of these programs,” said Sosa.

On the other hand, he commented that since there is no damage caused by transgenic corn and the debate continues, it is necessary that the federal government does not prohibit its planting in Mexican territory, since it ends up being imported anyway. “If you prohibit and you have no alternatives, then the prohibition makes no sense, because everyone is going to continue consuming nothing but you are not going to produce it,” he indicated.