Abstract

TURRENT FERNANDEZ, Antonio; ESPINOSA CALDERON, Alejandro; CORTES FLORES, José Isabel  and  MEJIA ANDRADE, Hugo. MasAgro-maize strategy analysis. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2014, vol.5, n.8, pp.1531-1547. ISSN 2007-0934.

This paper discusses the objectives and strategies of the MasAgro-maize program starting from the initial conditions of the traditional agricultural subsector of Mexico that produces maize under rainfed conditions. These initial conditions show that the trend of the past 30 years has been to increase the domestic production of rainfed maize by 1.20 million tons per year (MTY) and the yield in 0.22 Mg ha^-1, each 10. Therefore, the MasAgro objectives should be corrected in consequence. Global experience on the adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) by small producers is analyzed. For the CA with biannual rotation adoption case examined, it is estimated that the program has directly or indirectly to treat 3.164 million hectares (M ha) managed by more than 800 000 small production units, (categories<5 ha and 5-20 ha) and achieve average yields of 3.92 Mg ha^-1. Despite the recognized positive effect on sustainability, the strategy of irreversible adoption of CA may be poor due to a low short-term economic incentive involved, to the lack of access to credit, marketing support, and several inconsistencies with the objectives and requirements of the small UP wellness. The strategy of replacing 25 to 50% of the area occupied by both native maize races and creolized varieties are deemed inappropriate for Mexico, by its character as the center of origin of maize and important reservoir of biodiversity of this species.

Keywords : biodiversity of native maize; conservation agriculture; monoculture corn; paradigm of traditional agriculture; small production units.

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