History of the adoption of improved maize INIFAP in the state of Tlaxcala seeds

During the years of operation of the National Seed Producer (PRONASE), the improved maize seeds marketed in the state were mainly from CEVAMEX-INIFAP. PRONASE, through INIFAP researchers, trained producers in the state of Tlaxcala to reproduce seeds H-30, H-33 and H-34 (interview with INIFAP maize seed producer). The training was received from the Tlaxcala Experimental Site of INIFAP (^{Barillas, 2010}).

Seeds of transnational and national private companies were also marketed. With the closing of PRONASE, 2004. The Tlaxcala market opens and begins a restructuring of the same, where the participation of transnational companies is increasing. At the beginning, Asgrow is presented with the seeds Halcón, Gavilán, Condor and Buho, Hart Seed with Z-60 and Mexican companies like Pastege today Aspros with AS-721, AS-820, AS-600 and seeds of INIFAP H-28, H-30, H-33, H-34, VS-22, V-23, and Texcoco seeds with PROMESA (^{AMSDA, SF} and INIFAP researcher information).

In that same year (2004) SAGARPA, SNICS, INIFAP and the Produce Foundation Tlaxcala, initiated a program that they called “Certified Seed Production for the state of Tlaxcala”. INIFAP was responsible for the transfer and training. Seeds H-40 and H-48 (the H-30, H-33 and H-34 came out of the market) were introduced to the market. The goal was to train INIFAP seed producers to produce and market them later (Barillas, 2011).

For approximately the first six years, producers sold their production annually to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) and SAGARPA in turn sold it at subsidized prices to corn farmers through the strategic project of support to the corn and bean production chain (PROMAF). The seed producers delivered to SAGARPA from 12 to 14 thousand sacks annually (information obtained from focal meeting). Each sack covers one hectare of sowing, which resulted in the planting of an average annual crop of 13 000 hectares with improved maize seed by INIFAP (information obtained from a focal type meeting).

Characteristics of INIFAP improved maize seed producers

The seed producers to whom the questionnaire was applied belong to the municipalities of San Damián Texoloc, Sanctorum de Lázaro Cárdenas, Muñoz de Domingo Arenas, Xicohtzingo, San Jerónimo Zacualpan, Ixtlacuixtla of Mariano Matamoros, Nativitas, Benito Juárez, Tlaxco, Huamantla, Santa Cruz Quilehtla and Huamantla. On average, they are 6.3 years old, being INIFAP’s maize seed producers. The 83% of the producers work with irrigated land.

With the exception of one producer, all the others were formed by INIFAP. Sixty percent of them formed organizations or companies and 40% worked individually. All producers of the show said that in addition to producing corn seeds, they plant corn for grain. In addition to maize, 27% also grow beans, barley, oats and wheat, the last three crops for sale on the market. Other activities other than agriculture were livestock and commerce that make up their main source of income, in which they work individually.

Experience INIFAP seed producers in producing and selling seeds in the market Tlaxcala

The producers subject to this study had to face different problems during the adoption process, some related to the supply of parent seeds, others with production and others in the sales market. Concerning the supply of seeds, 100% of the sample producers said CEVAMEX at the beginning of the period covered their demand for basic and registered seeds, but as more producers joined this activity, individual seed demand has been completely covered again.

There were those who said that because of lack of parent seed, they cannot cover their demand for certified seed, so they have lost customers. Regarding the production process, 22% of the producers mentioned a problem, they referred to the difficulty of having isolated lots to obtain seed certified by SNICS.

Regarding the problems of the sales market, 100% of the sample producers mentioned competition with transnational companies as the main one. They mentioned aspects of this competition: the hybrid seeds of the transnational companies have more prestige, so the producers prefer them, they also bring new seeds to the market faster, they have a better presentation, they work with lower costs to produce and pack, our seeds are sold very slowly because the market of Tlaxcala is very small and there is great variety of hybrid seeds of transnational companies.

According to field information, producers who remained on the market with certified seed had to do a lot of work to regain consumer confidence. The market was displacing declared seed producers, even leaving them out. The problem of demarcation occurred in the municipality of Altzayanca (which is one of the municipalities with the largest area planted with maize for grain and forage in the state), and was also mentioned by 11% of the producers belonging to the municipalities of Sanctorum and Huamantla, who, unlike the previous ones, did solve the problem. Córdova (2011), who carried out a work in Tlaxcala with five organizations of maize seed producers improved by INIFAP, comments that 21% of their sample mentioned that the delimitation of the land was the main problem they faced in the year 2010.

These organizations are in the municipalities of Sanctorum of Lázaro Cárdenas, Ixtacuixtla of Mariano Matamoros, Chiautempan, Lázaro Cárdenas and San Jerónimo Zacualpan. This allows you to see that to analyze the adoption process should also consider economic and agronomic reasoning, social and cultural context in which it develops proc said adoption (^{Cáceres, 1997}).

Producers who formed organizations and companies, had the financial capacity to rent land and solve this problem of demarcation, were able to obtain quality seed certified by the SNICS. Córdova (2011) assures that 68% of the producers of his sample, worked with leased land. According to information from the CEVAMEX sales records, the average area sown by individual producers is smaller compared to the area sown by those who were organized in companies. Individual producers that represent 42%, plant areas ranging from one to six hectares, with an average of 2.2 hours, average 1.6 and one fashion. The 58% formed by companies and organizations, run a range that runs from one to nineteen, the average being 4.7 hours, the median of four and the fashion of four.

The number of hectares planted with the number of hectares planted and the four farmers with the most years of seed reproduction were found to plant more hectares (Table 1).

¹=Información de productores que se obtuvo a través de los registros de ventas de CEVAMEX. Fuente: elaboración con base en información de los cuestionarios y registros de ventas de semilla progenitora del CEVAMEX.

Table 1 Number of producers according to years of reproduction of maize seed and hectares sown per year (2005 to 2015 period) 

Sale of progenitor seed in the CEVAMEX-INIFAP

An indicator of adoption is the positioning of seeds in the sales market. From 2004 to 2015, CEVAMEX has sold improved maize seed by CEVAMEX to producers in the state of Tlaxcala. With the sale of basic and registered seeds, year after year, different amounts of hectares have been planted, reaching an area of approximately 77.5 ha in 2008 (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Total area planted in Tlaxcala (ha) with seed progenitor CEVAMEX (2004- 2015).  

In the Figure 1 describes the behavior of the surface planted in the state of Tlaxcala for 11 years, with progenitor seed purchased at CEVAMEX. In this graph we can see what CIMMYT (1994) reported when he says that adoption starts slowly, followed by a faster increase and then a slowdown. Although it may be normal behavior, this reduction represents a worrying situation.

The INIFAP has faced difficulties in supplying the quantity demanded for basic and registered seeds, as the producers say, and this may explain in part the fall of the area sown. This does not denote a drop in the demand for seed or certified seed. Public institutions, unlike private companies, work non-profit, do not seek to increase their utility, but “offer a public service”. They work with budgetary constraints and their profits are positive but decreasing (^{Nicholson, 1997}) which is probably reflected in the limitation of progenitor seed production.

Current situation

The producers who are still in force said they are facing problems with the marketing of their seeds. In the year 2013, PROMAF changes to an incentive program for maize and bean producers (PIMAF). Currently, with the PIMAF (where it continues to support corn grain producers through selling at subsidized prices, packages that include seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and biofeedants), the Federal Government withdraws from participating in the commercialization of the seed and leaves it to private companies certified by SAGARPA (^{SAGARPA, 2014}).

These companies are made up of producers with a mainly marketing orientation, who have storage warehouses, truck fleet, scales and sell agrochemical products in different states of the Mexican Republic. Some of these companies are authorized by the transnationals to sell their seeds and their agrochemicals. In particular, for the producers under study, it meant the end of the marketing support offered by the Federal Government. Parallel to this is the State Government’s Agricultural Production Support Program (^{SEFOA, 2015}).

The transnational companies have several years of experience in the competition of the markets, their participation displaces to medium and small entrepreneurs. The competition is even greater, as they continue to consolidate and strengthen, is the case of Monsanto that bought the companies Asgrow, Cargill International Seed, Hartz Seed, among others, in addition to participating with Dekalb and forms alliances with Pioneer (Córdoba, 2000) who acquired Dupont and Phi de México SA de CV.

The seed producers of CEVAMEX-INIFAP, have to negotiate with the private companies that participate with the Federal Government with the sale of packages, so that through them they sell their seeds. At the moment they have not been successful by this means, since the entrepreneurs prefer to distribute the seeds of transnational corporations (direct information obtained from group meeting). As for the tianguis, have made attempts to enter but have failed.

The request to: have a first level organization, a rural production company (SPR), a large volume of seeds, which is why the second level organization in which several SPRs are organized in rural production enterprises (RPE) (Estudios Agrarios, SA) to commercialize its production. Once trained as EPR, they must register with Social Security, at least four workers. The producers pointed out that they have met these conditions without exception, except for the last requirement. They noted that insuring four people means a sharp increase in their production costs. Information obtained at a focal type meeting. According to ^{Nicholson (1997)}, this requirement can be interpreted as a legal barrier to entry to the market, typical of oligopoly competition, are actions undertaken by governments arguing the management of markets.

In the focus group meetings, the producers commented that the corn seed market’s rearrangement is due to the greater bargaining power that transnational corporations have with the Federal and State governments. They consider it a political and reorganization issue that is leaving them out. They consider that this is the main problem and not the quality of the seeds they sell. In fact, CEVAMEX-INIFAP seeds are still in demand despite the difficulties described above, mainly to assist the producers in the eastern region of the state of Tlaxcala, where sandy soils are used under temporary conditions (interviews with producers of seed and authorized seed seller of transnational corporations).

This region is served mainly by two companies of the State of Mexico, one of them El Trebol, and a producer of the state of Morelos. These companies that participate in the seed trade, offer seeds of CEVAMEX-INIFAP. The small producers of the state of Tlaxcala are maintained because they take their production to other states, such as Puebla in the market of San Martín Texmelucan, and because they have kept customers captive for years.

The INIFAP improved maize seed adoption process

The records of sales of maize seed of CEVAMEX-INIFAP during the period 2005 to 2015 were reviewed. It was verified that seeds have been sold year after year during this period, to producers of Tlaxcala. In total there were 43 buyers representing individual organizations, companies and producers. In this period, some started individually and later formed organizations or companies. With the intention of not duplicating the count of these cases, they were followed up and in total 36 buyers who are currently at different times of the adoption process Table 2).

^*=Un productor comentó que interrumpió por un año la compra de semilla al CEVAMEX, argumentando que la semilla certificada que había producido en 2014, la vendió de manera muy lenta por lo que en 2015, aun contaba con semilla certificada. Fuente: elaborado con base a los registros del CEVAMEX e información obtenida en el trabajo de campo.

Table 2 Value of the adoption indicator applied to the producers of certified maize seed of CEVAMEXINIFAP of the state of Tlaxcala during the period 2005-2015 

In the first years of the study period the volume of seed sold by CEVAMEX reached its highest level, which coincides with the support received by producers from SAGARPA. By 2010, when the MasAgro Program emerges, both the number of producers and the volume of sales fall. It recovers from 2011 until 2013, to fall again in 2014. This fall coincides with the closing of PROMAF. In this second stage, the volume of seed sold is reversed, it is below the number of producers (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Behavior of the number of Tlaxcala producers and volume of sales of improved maize seeds (2004-2015).