In 1999, corn production in Mexico absorbed more than 53% of total cultivated land. It also occupied more than 2.5 million individual producers. These corn growers work under highly differentiated conditions in terms of technology and resource endowment. Production conditions are marked by deep differences in soil characteristics, topography, general climate, rainfall patterns and evaporation coefficients. Differences also arise from diverse sources of biotic stress associated with fungi, bacteria, insects and nematods. The level of heterogeneity is associated to the extraordinary mosaic of agrological and ecosystem diversity existing in Mexico, which is in turn closely related to the country’s geographical and physical characteristics. |
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