Assessment of biological effects in agriculture in Mexico

Mexico has the most diverse maize germplasm of any country, and is characterized by many small producers and high maize consumption. The country has an intricate agrarian history and a strongly polarized society. Maize is grown in contrasting environmental, social and technological conditions in plots that range from garden size to fields of hundreds of hectares. The typical campesino subsidizes maize with revenues from offspring working in cities or abroad and uses family labor to subsist. Until the 1960s, Mexico was more than self sufficient in maize, and could quickly be so again with minimal investment in local maize improvement and sustainable maize production strategies. NAFTA accelerated US maize imports, but Mexico produces 78 percent of the maize it uses; half of this is grown by smallholders who comprise two-thirds of all producers. Social forces impel campesinos to produce maize as insurance; economic forces invite them to quit. The situation is fragile; the breaking point uncertain. Finding alternative crops or jobs and housing for more millions in cities will not be easy. Mexican campesinos depend on maize landraces, tuned to local conditions. Landraces are exchanged, mixed, re-selected and re-adapted. Varied ecology in Mexico has discouraged universal hybrid use. The proportion of maize production planted with landraces (80 percent) is high, compared to the rest of Latin America. Hybrids have existed since the 1950s, but often cannot compete with open-pollinated varieties; companies are unlikely to cater to specialized ecologies; public programs are too underfunded to develop such hybrids. Locally adapted, open-pollinated maize is often a "safer" crop under marginal farming conditions, and much maize is grown on marginal lands. Preservation of biodiversity in maize has been a service of Mexican campesinos for millennia.