Resumen

COTLER, Helena; CORONA, José Alfonso  y  GALEANA-PIZANA, J. Mauricio. Soil erosion and food deficiency in Mexico: a first approach. Invest. Geog [online]. 2020, n.101, e59976.  Epub 02-Oct-2020. ISSN 2448-7279.  https://doi.org/10.14350/rig.59976.

Degradation of soil quality due to fertility loss and erosion can hamper food security and self-sufficiency, which would mostly impact small subsistence farmers and exacerbate food poverty. Degradation affects nearly half of Mexican soils, but its effects on food self-sufficiency have been poorly investigated.

This study conducted an initial cartographic and statistical analysis of the relationship between erosion in rain-fed agricultural soils, whose production destination is self-consumption, and food deficiency in Mexico.

Country-wide, cartographic and statistical data from official sources were used, including series V of the INEGI Land-Use and Vegetation chart (scale 1: 250,000), the map of human-induced soil degradation (scale 1: 250,000), results from the VIII Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry census (2007), and Poverty reports (2010, 2012 and 2014).

By overlaying such maps, we identified the polygons classified as rain-fed agriculture, affected by water erosion, and whose production was entirely or partially intended for self-consumption. This information was correlated with food deficiency data per municipality.

To examine the relationship between the surface area dedicated to rain-fed annual crops, affected by water erosion, and the population with limited access to food, a linear correlation analysis was carried out using Pearson’s coefficient. Our early results show that 16% of rain-fed agricultural land is affected by erosion to some extent. These areas are distributed across 27 states.

Agricultural Production Units dedicated to rain-fed agriculture, affected by erosion and whose production is intended for self-consumption (UPAE), occur in 41% of the municipalities of Mexico; 56% of these are entirely dedicated to self-consumption. In terms of yield and diversity, agricultural production is the main source of income for small, self-consumption producers. Land is the primary asset from which they are able to obtain products of high nutritional quality.

Food poverty is unevenly distributed across the country. The worst levels are concentrated in four states: State of Mexico, Veracruz, Puebla, and Jalisco.

We found a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.65) between erosion in rain-fed agricultural soils dedicated to self-consumption and lack of food access. Although these results do not imply a causal relationship, they clearly show the linkage between erosion in rain-fed agricultural soils and food deficiency among the population at an aggregate level in Mexico. The states that most contribute to this correlation are Guerrero, Michoacán, Guanajuato, and State of Mexico.

Soil degradation affects the food security of producers as well as the sovereignty of the country. These concerns, which are stated as three sustainable development goals (SDGs), demand comprehensive attention in order to implement policies to improve soil quality and develop sustainable agricultural practices, accompanied by rural development.

Palabras llave : soil erosion; food self-sufficiency; food poverty; agriculture.

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