Agriculture

After a decade of slow growth, averaging 1.3% per year, Mexico’s agriculture sector made a comeback in 2014, outperforming the wider economy and highlighting the sector’s counter-cyclical nature. Buoyed by favourable climatic conditions, the sector ended 2014 posting growth of 2.8%, with total production reaching a value of $53.3bn, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Meanwhile, total agro-food exports (including agro-industrial goods) reached a record $25.6bn in 2014. While the sector’s performance continues to suffer from a number of structural inefficiencies, particularly in relation to the ongoing prevalence of small farmers and the slow adoption of technology, measures to incentivise production and increase access to financing among small producers should see the sector continue on its path to recovery.

This chapter includes interviews with Ricardo Aguilar Castillo, Under-Secretary of Food and Competitiveness, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) and Javier Valdes, Managing Director, Syngenta Mexico.