Pacify the countryside, prioritizing the lemon area of Apatzingán, Michoacán, and elevate the prohibition of the cultivation of lemons to constitutional status. transgenic corn in Mexico and its direct human consumption are the other priorities of this six-year term for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (It fits), in addition to eradicating poverty and achieving food sovereignty.
In interview with THE UNIVERSAL, Julio Berdegué Sacristánnew head of the organization, pointed out that the president Claudia Sheinbaum The security issues that hurt the rural sector “worry him”, which is why in this first year of government the violence that producers, farmers and day laborers face will be addressed with the pacification plan presented by the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC).
The agronomist also told this publishing house that Sader will seek “that the Constitution say that the cultivation of transgenic corn in Mexico and the direct human consumption of transgenic corn is prohibited and there is no more policy than that” to defend this position during the next review of the T-MEC.
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Provide labor rights to day laborers, free up water for the countryside and cities, produce more for the national use and addressing climate change are other agendas that are already being addressed, he said. Likewise, he reported that he will maintain the position of Andrés Manuel López Obrador against the use of glyphosate.
Are there bigger challenges than achieving food sovereignty and eradicating poverty? What are they and how does the Ministry of Agriculture plan to face them?
—Within himself[delasoberaníaalimentariayla[delasoberaníaalimentariaylaerradicación de pobreza]We have very important challenges for this six-year term. (…) We have a lot of poverty, even extreme poverty in the countryside even though there was very strong progress in the government of President López Obrador and we have this other very important challenge that just over 2 million people newspapers They are in a vulnerable condition, without labor rights, (…) then the whole issue of welfare It is very important. Mexico cannot say that it has a modern agricultureif next to us we have these very important levels of poverty and absence of rights.
The second is water. (…) In the agriculture We use 75% of the water in Mexico, so we have to modernize the use of water. Today we use obsolete technologies that use a lot of water to produce a kilo of any product and there are new technologies that allow us to produce that same kilo or more with much less water, in that sense, we are going to contribute as agricultural sector to release water for everyone.
A third challenge that is very important in Mexico is production. We are a great producing country, but we still need our daily diet to depend less on imports. It’s not that we have any problem with it. international trade. We do not have it, neither with importing nor with exporting, but if we can produce something in Mexico, efficiently, that generates jobs, generates economic activity in the countryside, in the communities, in the states and is better for our economy.
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The President has the issue of agriculture, the environment and climate change very close to her heart and mind, so we have a lot of work to do and the President is clear about it, she wants it to be a central issue.
So taking care of the countryside is going to be a priority for this government?
—[El programa de bienestar para el campo presentado en la conferencia mañanera de Claudia Sheinbaum] It is the President’s program, it is not the program of the Ministry of Agriculture and I am not saying it in that sense, because the President is already my boss, but I had, and not only me, the entire team had numerous meetings with her before the presentation, where he got involved, understood, asked, explained and made us correct. The policies that were presented bear the signature of the President. Not because she is the Head of State, but because she was really in the construction of them, so it is a very important issue for this government.
In recent years, extortion by organized crime against day laborers and small producers has increased. Is there a plan to protect this sector?
—There are rural areas of the country where we do have security issues important, and in some cases even alarming, are public knowledge. There is no separate plan for the countryside, it is not that this Secretariat has a plan, no, we have the plan that the secretary presented Omar García Harfuchwhich is the plan for the entire country, urban and rural. When Secretary Harfuch presented the priorities, he said that cities and states that have worrying levels of crime, high-impact crimes, will be addressed, but he also said something very important, he mentioned that the lemon area of Apatzingan.
That is the general plan of the President and Secretary García Harfuch, there is no other plan, but yes, of course it is considered among the priorities for this first year and includes Apatzingan which was one of the places that, indeed, are extremely complex and there was even, not long ago, the murder of a prominent producer and of course that worries us, of course and the government takes note.
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So it’s one of the top priorities?
—The fight for the pacification of the country is a priority of the President’s government, and includes the pacification of rural areas. Among the main priorities for this year, the problem of Apatzingán has already been included, which is very important, and later, as the six-year term progresses, other rural areas will be incorporated. Furthermore, there is another thing that greatly impacts us in the sector, which is the issue of highway robberies(…) so, those are the priorities and I am sure that there are many other issues that are being addressed. These are not issues in which I have operational information, it is not my responsibility.
Another issue that hurts the countryside is climate change, how is Sader going to face it?
—President Sheinbaum worked for 22 years as a researcher and professor at the UNAM dedicated to energy and climate change issues. You don’t have to talk to the President about climate changeshe is an expert in climate change and understands the consequences of this for our country and for agriculture.
Climate change is not future, it is present. (…) We are very worried. So, of course there are programs, the modernization of irrigation, for example, which is a historic program due to its size, since it has directly to do with adaptation to climate change.
We also bring a very important program with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to stop the deforestation. Deforestation is fatal to climate change and we have a strong problem of deforestation caused to convert forests into rangelands for livestock or avocado or agave plantations… and we have to stop that.
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We are also going to contribute to our international obligations to mitigate climate change and then help producers adapt to climate change.
We are clear about the government’s position regarding the planting, distribution and consumption of transgenic corn, but how are they going to defend it during the review of the T-MEC?
—It is a sensitive issue, we have talked about it several times already, in my case, even with the North American authorities, although it has been 20, 25 days, I have already discussed it with the authorities. USA With Mexico in agriculture it has a very important relationship, we export a lot and we also import a lot. They are a very important client of ours and vice versa too. Look, the President’s position is that Mexico is not going… In Mexico, in the national territory, transgenic corn is not going to be produced, neither white, nor yellow, nor red, nor blue, nor in any color, for any . We do not want genetically modified corn. For what reason? Because Mexico is the country of origin and where the 64 breeds of Creole cornabout those native corn they say: “ah, they are not very productive”, their value is not in that they are productive, their value is in that this is the world genetic reserve of corn.
[El maíz mexicano] It is a gigantic savings account, let’s put it that way, due to its genetic diversity and not only from Mexico. Corn is one of humanity’s three great food sources. Corn, rice and wheat. That is the basic food of the entire planet Earth and we have a treasure, which is those native corn. Tesoro ours, but the planet’s treasure and we are going to take great care of that. It has nothing to do with any other factor.
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How are we going to defend ourselves? Well, there is a proposal to take this to constitutional level. We hope that this is indicated in the constitutional reforms. What we want the Constitution to say is that the cultivation of transgenic corn in Mexico and the direct human consumption of transgenic corn are prohibited and there is no more policy than that.
Will the glyphosate ban stance also be maintained?
-Yeah. The decree [de Andrés Manuel López Obrador] is in force, but when the expiration date arrives, the prohibition.
Experts told him: [al expresidente de México] “We are ready to ban glyphosate. “We have an alternative.” And the answer was: “we still don’t have an alternative on that scale.” But what scale?… Mexico markets between 20 and 25 million tons of glyphosate per year, then, it is not a minor product. There are producers who control their weeds with other techniques, even some Mexican companies have already registered some alternatives with Cofepris and that’s good, I hope we can soon have them on that scale, but as long as we don’t have them, our position is that when we have alternatives at that level, we won’t. we have no problem with glyphosate replacement.
These chemicals They have always been replaced, better ones appear, other alternatives with less impact on health and the environment.
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