A few weeks ago an initiative called “For Our Field”, made up of a group of people and organizations from the agricultural and fishing sector concerned about the future of the Mexican countryside.
This initiative represents a call, yes energetic, but responsible, purposeful and legitimate; without any color or political party; What it seeks is to really measure the importance of the Mexican countryside and those who feed us and clothe us. It is a call to the authorities; to the Federal Executive; to the members of the Congress of the Union, deputies and senators; to the governors of the States; to the public officials of the three levels of Government, and a call to the population in general, to revalue the importance that the producers of the Mexican countryside and sea should have; of those who work in them; of those who guarantee the supply of quality, healthy and safe food for the entire population and even more, since we also export a large amount of products to other countries.
The countryside is the basis of food and life. Without a field, there is simply no future; Producing food has always been high risk, but, to the usual difficulties, new threats have been added such as climate change, insecurity, and a series of uninformed decisions, which make us go backwards in terms of productivity, instead of moving forward. .
In a country with great wealth, 30 million Mexicans still go hungry every day; However, there is great potential to increase food production in our country and feed all of Mexico, but, to achieve this, the voices of those of us who dedicate our lives to it must be heard; A public policy with a medium and long-term vision is required, and that decisions for the countryside are made by listening to the countryside.
What is requested in this Initiative is that producers and organizations be heard: that a Committee for Agricultural Policies be established; Support is requested in financing, marketing and insurance, to compete on equal terms with producers from other countries, mainly from our commercial partners. It is essential that investment is made in water infrastructure and innovation; It is essential to modernize the countryside and make it more productive and sustainable; It is necessary and urgent to stop harmful decisions, without technical/scientific foundations and also to guarantee safety, to work without fear in the field, since this is also affecting the development of the sector in a very important way.
This initiative has been very successful; More and more producers and their organizations, as well as the private sector and the public in general, have been joining, convinced that it is important to look at the Mexican countryside and really address the different needs that the producers of all sizes, whether small, medium or large, and that this allows for certainty in the production and supply of food for the entire population.
This Initiative has also been distinguished with a campaign in which it is stated that “Without fields there is no food“, “Without field there are no tacos“, “Without field there are no quesadillas“, “Without fields there is no meat”; There are no eggs, there is no pozole, there is no milk; There is no beer, there is no tequila, there are no cakes, there are no salads, etc. The reality is that we have not visualized what would happen without the field, and without the producers, who make the land produce; those who feed us day by day.
As National Agricultural Council we have joined this effort; to this Initiative, convinced that the countryside, the agri-food sector, and food producers must be in the Government priority agendaas a national security issue.
Let’s join this initiative; Let’s do it “For our Field; Let’s do it “For our Mexico.”
Ing. Luis Fernando Haro Encinas
Managing Director
National Agricultural Council