▲ Cultivation and harvest of broccoli, purslane and celery, at the beginning of the month at the Hortalizas Quintana Peña Cooperative, in San Andrés Mixquic.Photo Roberto Garcia Ortiz
Angelica Enciso L.
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, July 23, 2024, p. 16
For this year, agricultural production is expected to grow only in vegetables, by 1.9 percent compared to the previous year, since due to drought and low water availability, falls are expected in grains and oilseeds by 12.2 percent, fodder by 4.2, fruit by 1.8 and agro-industrial by 0.9, warn the Agri-Food Expectations for June of the Agri-Food and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP).
In particular, in the case of white corn, the production expectation for this year, with information up to June, is 20.3 million tons, 16.3 percent less than the close of last year, when it totaled 24.3 million tons, indicates the decentralized body of the Ministry of Agriculture.
In total, the national agricultural and fishing production expectation for 2024 is 223.9 million tons, 3.3 percent lower than that recorded in 2023. Regarding the drop in production, sorghum and wheat also stand out. In fodder, alfalfa, corn and oats stand out; in fruit trees, orange, lemon, banana, avocado, mango and watermelon. Meanwhile, in vegetables, the products highlighted by their highest production volume are red tomato, green chili, potato and onion, the agency adds.
It details that, compared to 2023, the agricultural subsector experienced a decrease of 8 million tons, due to the lack of water in the dams and the drought of the spring-summer cycle, which affected the autumn-winter cycle with a reduction of 21.4 percent in expected production, compared to the same previous cycle
.
He added that perennial crops were also affected, although to a lesser extent, with a decrease of 3.5 percent, while the fishing subsector will fall by 6.3 thousand tons, and the livestock subsector will increase by 507 thousand tons.
In the case of the livestock sector, he added, the production of carcass meat of the main species is expected to be 2.2 percent higher than the previous year, since in general it is expected that production will increase. In the case of beef and pork, it is estimated that they will increase by 2.3 percent, in poultry and turkey meat by 2.2 percent, in sheep meat by 0.5 percent, and in goat meat by 0.4 percent.
In addition to other projects, there are also expected to be increases in the price of eggs for cooking, with an increase of 2.6 percent, and in the production of bovine milk by 1.9 percent. Meanwhile, honey production will fall by 6 percent compared to the previous year.
