Agriculture in Michoacán

## Economic importance

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As of 2017, agriculture in Michoacán, including livestock, formed the state’s primary economic industry.[1] Of particular importance is the avocado sector; Mexico produces more avocadoes than any other country, and Michoacán is the primary growing area.[2]

### Avocado

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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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[4] Its foreign trade’s evolution has considerably grown; in 2011, 951 million dollars were exported, while 2961 million dollars were exported in 2017.[3] Exports to the US went from 4,859 tonnes in 1990 to 917,070 in 2018 (see Table 1).[5]

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.[5]

Table 1.-Export of avocado tonnes from Mexico to the US and the rest of the world)[5]

Year  | US  | World
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
Data: Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo Rural Sustentable con datos del Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera Data: Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo Rural Sustentable con datos del Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera Data: Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo Rural Sustentable con datos del Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera Table 2.- Avocado sown area (Hectares)[5]

Year  | Jalisco  | Michoacán  | Others  | National
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)[5]

Year  | Jalisco  | Michoacán  | Others  | National
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 2018[5]

State  | Tonnes  | % National  | Hectares  | % National  | Millions 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

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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).[5]

Table 5.- Main Avocado Producing Municipalities in Michoacán in 2003[5]

Municipality  | Tonnes
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 2018[5]

Municipality  | Tonnes
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

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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.[6]

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[7]) 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.[8]

Likewise, the violence suffered in the state has caused hundreds of families to migrate. Also, extorsion 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.[9] 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.[10][11]

## References

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1. ^ Orozco-Ramírez, Quetzalcóatl; Astier, Marta; Barrasa, Sara (December 2017). "Agricultural Land Use Change after NAFTA in Central West Mexico". Land. 6 (4): 66. doi:10.3390/land6040066.
2. ^ Curry, Alexander (2021-03-17). "Violence and Avocado Capitalism in Michoacán, Mexico". Noria Research. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
3. ^ a b "Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (SIAP). (2018). Atlas Agroalimentario 2012-2018. SIAP".
4. ^ a b "Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (SAGARPA). (2017). Planeación Agrícola Nacional 2017-2030, Aguacate Mexicano. SAGARPA" (PDF).
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo Rural Sustentable (CMDRS). (2019). Situación de las exportaciones de aguacate de Jalisco y Michoacán. CMDRS" (PDF).
6. ^ "Los Angeles Times. (2019). La guerra del narco para controlar la multimillonaria industria del aguacate en México". Los Angeles Times. 21 November 2019.
7. ^ "Who is APEAM?".
8. ^ "El Economista. (2020). Desplaza narco de Michoacán a aguacateros y nuevos riesgos en EU".
9. ^ "La Jornada. (2014). El campo michoacano, postrado por el narco y efectos del TLC". 26 January 2014.
10. ^ "BBC. (2016). Los daños ocultos que provoca el aguacate, el "oro verde" de México". BBC News Mundo.
11. ^ "Mexican town protects forest from avocado growers, cartels".