Sheinbaum Presents Plan To Guarantee Food Sovereignty And Self-sufficiency.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo presented the plan to guarantee food sovereignty and self-sufficiency through an investment of 53.971 billion pesos (mx) in 2025, which will increase to 83.750 billion mx in 2030 to support small and medium-sized producers of corn, beans, rice, cocoa, and honey through programs such as Harvesting Sovereignty, a new Program for Well-being that will be added to Production for Well-being and Fertilizers for Well-being.

“The Production for Well-being and Fertilizers for Well-being programs are aimed at approximately 2 million small producers. These programs have existed since President López Obrador's administration. What new program are we incorporating?

Harvesting Sovereignty, which is low-interest loans with insurance in case of drought, weather problems, and also for prices. We also guarantee, through the Ministry's own management, that they can have a fair market. That is, those who buy corn, beans, and various products, particularly corn and beans, can be guaranteed that they won't have to go through intermediaries who pay them very little and then sell them to large flour mills, but rather that there can be a direct agreement,” he explained during the morning press conference, “The People's Morning Conferences.”

He emphasized that the purchase of corn, beans, honey, cocoa, and coffee will be carried out through Food for Well-being, through which approximately 5 percent of producers will receive fair prices, and these products will also be sold in the Food for Well-being Stores.

"It's important because there's a market for the products, and we're providing access to small producers in particular so they can profit from the added value that will be provided through Food for Well-being. This will also guarantee good prices for the areas of our country with the greatest need, which is precisely where Food for Well-being is the program.

While in the case of milk, Liconsa, which will become Milk for Well-being, is projected to represent nine percent of production, and to achieve this, processing will be increased.

The Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Julio Berdegué Sacristán, reported that this year's investment to support producers is approximately 54 billion pesos to support 300,000 small and medium-sized producers. By 2030, it is estimated that it will reach almost 84 billion pesos to support 750 producers.

He emphasized that Harvesting Sovereignty will provide comprehensive support for marketing. Fair, value-added loans; insured loans with an annual interest rate reduction of at least nine percent, in addition to insurance for climate risks and pests, as well as a guaranteed minimum price. This program will also provide agroecological technical support; animal and plant health research; and high-quality seeds.

He noted that the goal is to increase corn production to 25 million tons by 2030; bean production to 1.2 million tons; rice production to 450,000 tons, which corresponds to half of national demand; and milk production is projected to reach 15 billion tons, which will be achieved by increasing milk purchases through Liconsa by 89 percent.

The head of Food for Well-being, María Luisa Albores González, reported that to support producers, in addition to purchasing at fair prices, eight plants will also be built to transform and add value to grains and honey: a honey packaging and processing plant in Yucatán; a cacao processing plant for the production of table chocolate, bar chocolate, and powdered chocolate; a soluble coffee plant; two bean bagging plants in Zacatecas and Durango; a refried brittle processing plant; and two corn flour processing plants, one each in Chiapas and Puebla.