Urge Mexico to take advantage of protected agriculture to boost exports

Irapuato (Mexico), 14 Nov (EFE) .- Mexico must take advantage of its trade agreements and the potential of protected agriculture to seek new markets and not be vulnerable to threats from US President Donald Trump, said Thursday the head of the Mexican Association of Protected Horticulture (AMHPAC), Alfredo Díaz.

During his participation in the Guanajuato 2019 Agrifood Expo, which takes place from 12 to November 15 in the city of Irapuato, Guanajuato state, Díaz Belmontes said that 84% of the vegetables produced in Mexican fields are sent to the United States.

In his conference "Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural Exportation", the general director of AMHPAC stressed that Mexico is the country with the most trade agreements and investment agreements in the world.

He said that 12 of these agreements are free trade agreements with 46 countries, 32 are agreements for the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments with 33 countries, and nine are agreements of limited scope to the agricultural sector to regulate trade.

“We have to take advantage of the economic opening of Mexico, the agricultural sector of Mexico, because there is enormous potential for protected horticulture. But we have to break paradigms using market intelligence. Not only is the United States; there are also other countries, ”he said.

He stressed that Mexico occupies the sixth place in the world in terms of protected agricultural area, which consists of the use of greenhouses and meshes for the production of vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, while the use of macro-tunnels is for the production of fruits, like blueberries and strawberries.

Díaz Belmontes emphasized that Mexico has had a boom in the technification of its fields, since in only 15 years it passed from 132 protected hectares to 50.900 hectares, mainly in the states of Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Michoacán, which together concentrate 50% of the national protected area.

Of the total protected area, 56% is used for the production of vegetables, while the rest is for berries, flowers and grains.

However, he noted that only 15% of the total area of ​​these crops in Mexico is produced with protected horticulture and 85% in the open field, so it is necessary that there be more implementation of protected agriculture, as it has been shown to increase Production yield and value in the field, and encourages export.

For example, he explained that the state of Sinaloa is the largest producer of vegetables under protected schemes in Mexico, where it produces an 1.1 tons of tomato per year, followed by San Luis Potosí, Michoacán and Jalisco.

“We must take into account global consumer trends. We are becoming wiser, more self-sufficient. There is a demand for the immediacy of electronic commerce and we want authenticity, we want an impact on our world with organic sustainability, but it is also necessary to adapt public policies to boost exports, ”he said.

Meanwhile, Manuel Buces, an expert in greenhouses, said that every year the demand for greenhouses in the field increases, mainly in states in the center of the country such as Guanajuato, Querétaro, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.

“Ninety percent of people who use greenhouses export, because the greenhouse allows them to control everything from temperature to light. But also being an expensive investment, the producer has to sell in a market with more profit, ”he said.

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