Agriculture in Michoacán is the primary economic industry of the Mexican state of Michoacán, with avocado production being particularly important. In 2018, the state produced 1,674,855 tonnes of avocados, accounting for 76.7% of Mexico's production, while 166,604 hectares were planted with the crop, representing 72% of the national planted area. Both avocado production and planted area increased substantially between 1980 and 2018.
The avocado industry in Michoacán has been affected by organized crime. Criminal groups have extorted orchard owners, seized land, and cleared protected forests for avocado cultivation, while competition over the industry has contributed to violence. Illegal planting associated with avocado cultivation has contributed to the deforestation of pine and holm oak forests.
Economic importance As of 2017, agriculture in Michoacán, including livestock, formed the state’s primary economic industry. Of particular importance is the avocado sector; Mexico produces more avocadoes than any other country, and Michoacán is the primary growing area.
Avocado Hass avocado is a hybrid’s result from a Mexican and a Guatemalan varieties. In 2017, more than 2 million 29 thousand metric tonnes of avocado were harvested in Mexico, 82.7% of which came from production in the state of Michoacán. The climate required to grow Hass avocado is a temperature ranging from 8 to 21 Celsius degrees and 1,200 to 1,600 mm annual precipitation (1 mm is equivalent to 1 water liter per square meter). Likewise, it is advisable to grow it between 800 and 2,500 m above sea level, on well-drained clay soils or clay-loam soils.
Avocado is among Mexico's top agricultural exports, its production accounts for 4.39% of the national GDP and 8.84% of the country’s fruit production. Its foreign trade’s evolution has considerably grown; in 2011, 951 million dollars were exported, while 2961 million dollars were exported in 2017. Exports to the US went from 4,859 tonnes in 1990 to 917,070 in 2018 (see Table 1).
The state of Michoacán, has gone from planting 30,979 hectares in 1980 to planting up to 166,604 in 2018; being the state with the greatest growth (see Table 2). It was also the state with the greatest growth in avocado production; in 1980, it produced 141,221 tonnes, and 1,674,855 in 2018 (see Table 3). In percentage terms, Michoacán represents 76.7% of the national volume and 72% of the planted surface (see Table 4). Likewise, the average and gross yields of the avocado production in Michoacán have considerably grown throughout time, this was highlighted by the exports to the US in 1997, 2004, and 2011.
Table 1.-Export of avocado tonnes from Mexico to the US and the rest of the world)YearUSWorld 1990 4,859 17,427 1995 4,726 54,595 2000 13,396 89,270 2005 145,111 229,166 2010 269,985 368,615 2015 808,310 989,721 2018 917,070 1,198,203
Table 2.- Avocado sown area (Hectares)YearJaliscoMichoacánOthersNational 1980 3,250 30,979 31,132 65,361 1985 3,278 67,091 28,901 99,270 1990 844 58,798 23,490 83,132 1995 696 75,075 16,775 92,546 2000 654 78,530 15,707 94,892 2005 1,385 95,223 15,643 112,251 2010 8,468 107,058 18,796 134,322 2015 17,041 134,942 35,344 187,327 2018 22,529 166,604 42,391 231,524
Table 3.- Avocado Production (Tons)YearJaliscoMichoacánOthersNational 1980 28,377 141,221 264,661 434,259 1985 25,257 294,332 245,720 565,309 1990 6,769 523,483 150,316 680,568 1995 6,650 663,636 119,744 790,030 2000 5,213 794,681 107,415 907,309 2005 5,911 895,098 120,506 1,021,515 2010 29,987 950,942 126,206 1,107,135 2015 119,647 1,283,313 241,265 1,644,226 2018 201,804 1,674,855 308,004 2,184,663
Table 4.- Main producing entities 2018StateTonnes% NationalHectares% NationalMillions Pesos% National Michoacán 1,674,855 76.7 166,604 72.0 34,405 82.1 Jalisco 201,804 9.2 22,529 9.7 3,072 7.3 México 97,806 4.5 10,458 4.5 1,725 4.1 Nayarit 57,563 2.6 7,063 3.1 807 1.9 Morelos 43,644 2.0 5,433 2.3 540 1.3 Otros 108,991 5.0 19,438 8.4 1,359 3.2 Nacional 2,184,663 100 231,524 100 41,908 100
Municipalities that produce avocados Geographically, Michoacán's avocado-producing zone represents 12.9% of the state’s territory. In 2003, the main avocado-producing municipalities were Uruapan, Tancítaro, Peribán, Tacámbaro, Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Salvador Escalante, Tingüindín, Ario, Los Reyes, Tingambato, and Ziracuaretiro (see Table 5); producing 800,452 tonnes in total. By 2018, the main municipalities’ production increased to 1,674,855 tonnes, an over 100% increase. Turicato joined the main avocado-producing municipalities that year (and Tingambato lost ground, see Table 6).
Table 5.- Main Avocado Producing Municipalities in Michoacán in 2003MunicipalityTonnes Uruapan 146,426 Tancítaro 130,899 Peribán 121,047 Tacámbaro 97,078 Nuevo Parangaricutiro 56,759 Salvador Escalante 55,150 Tingüindín 54,611 Ario 51,028 Los Reyes 26,796 Tingambato 13,743 Ziracuaretiro 13,408
Table 6.- Main Avocado Producing Municipalities in Michoacán in 2018MunicipalityTonnes Tancítaro 237,435 Salvador Escalante 182,929 Tacámbaro 180,463 Uruapan 176,542 Ario 173,511 Peribán 142,975 Nuevo Parangaricutiro 78,695 Los Reyes 66,696 Tingüindín 60,265 Turicato 55,047 Ziracuaretiro 50,700
Organized crime and avocado growing
The avocado industry in the state of Michoacán has become part of the growing interest of organized crime. They focus their action on three main areas: charging rent fees to the orchards’ owners, confiscation of the fields, and clearing protected forests to grow avocado trees. The wealth produced by growing avocado in the state of Michoacán has increased the collection of rent fees, extorsion, and land grabbing by several criminal organizations. This has created a struggle between drug cartels to control the territory, causing the people who live there to become entrapped in violence.
It is estimated that in 2019, drug trafficking cost 5,000 million Mexican pesos yearly to the avocado producers in the state of Michoacán. Also, violence in the region affects bilateral relations between Mexico and the United States, since the president of the Association of Avocado Producers (APEAM in Spanish) reported that the USDA inspectors have been held by criminal organizations. Likewise, Donald Trump’s administration threatened to stop avocado from the state of Michoacán exports due to the high rates of violence and the growing competitiveness to export avocado in other places from Latin America, such as Colombia and Peru.
Likewise, the violence suffered in the state has caused hundreds of families to migrate. Also, extortion and other criminal practices have not been limited to avocado producers, but implemented in the whole agricultural production in Michoacán, from the owners of crop fields to laborers. Another consequence of the intrusion of criminal organizations in Michoacán’s agriculture is illegal planting that lead to the deforestation of thousands of hectares of pine and holm oak forests.
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