By Adriana Barrera and Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s new government will set aside a core goal of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to reduce imports of yellow corn and achieve self-sufficiency in the grain’s production, according to the new Minister of Agriculture.
Julio Berdegue, appointed to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s new cabinet, told Reuters that Mexico will focus on maintaining self-sufficiency in white corn, which is often used in the country’s main tortilla.
Sheinbaum also has an “ambitious goal” to cut deforestation linked to the agricultural sector in half by the end of her six-year term, Berdegue said in an interview Friday.
“It’s a very ambitious goal, but I believe we can (do it),” he said, citing estimates that deforestation, mostly caused by land clearing for lucrative avocado and livestock farming, wipes out an average of about 200,000 people . hectares per year.
Under the administration of Lopez Obrador, Sheinbaum’s mentor, Mexico wanted to drastically reduce imports of yellow corn, mostly from the US, in favor of boosting local production. However, the government failed to reduce yellow corn imports by about $6 billion annually during his term.
The policy emerged from Lopez Obrador’s efforts to limit the use of genetically modified (GM) corn, a position that led to an ongoing trade dispute with the US, by far Mexico’s largest commercial partner. Most imported yellow corn is genetically modified and used as feed for Mexican livestock production.
Lopez Obrador’s government had already reversed the ban on GM corn, restricting it only for human consumption.
Sheinbaum, who will take power in October, will abandon ambitions to replace yellow corn imports with local production, Berdegue said, underscoring a rare departure from Lopez Obrador’s established policies.
“Our goal is not to reduce imports, our goal is to produce more,” Berdegue said.
“Our goal is not self-sufficiency in yellow corn… not in this six-year term,” he added.
Mexico will likely need to continue importing large quantities of yellow corn, Berdegue said, due to increased demand in the livestock sector as Mexicans’ appetite for meat products grows.
A trade panel of the USMCA trade pact is expected to make a formal ruling by the end of the year in the dispute with Mexico over its genetically modified corn policy.
The US has said Mexico’s plan to restrict genetically modified corn is not based on science and violates trade agreement obligations. Mexico, meanwhile, argues that its policy has no impact on its commercial relationship with the US
