The ruling that guarantees protection of native corn is moving forward

With 29 votes from Morena, PT and PVEM, the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved the reform ruling that guarantees the protection of native corn and prohibits the planting of transgenic crops in Mexico.

The opposition warned that these changes increase the risk of a deficit that the country faces in order to be self-sufficient in this area, a problem that has been ignored, they said, in this initiative.

The six PRI and PAN legislators voted against; two MC representatives abstained.

“It is totally false that, as far as human consumption is concerned, we have a production deficit. Because in Mexico 27 ​​million tons of white corn are produced per year and we consume 25 million tons. Be careful, we must not confuse what is white corn with yellow corn,” countered Deputy Mario Carrillo Cubillas (Morena).

“So, no, we are not going to run out of tortillas for tacos. There will be enough, and, on the contrary, what we want is to increase production, because Mexico has the potential to produce close to 35 million tons of white corn per year,” the Morena member emphasized.

Carrillo Cubillas' statement was in response to the opposition's repeated questioning that instead of addressing productivity to increase food sovereignty, a measure was being promoted that is alien to the diversity of crops and types of producers that exist in the national territory.

“As parliamentarians, it would be ideal for us to know the economic impacts of any reform. This, in order to be able to weigh up the protection of our native corn, the guarantee of food sovereignty but also food sufficiency; so that we do not lack tortillas for tacos in the future, right? And I did not see this analysis in the initiative. And I think it is irresponsible not to have discussed it,” said deputy Irais Reyes of MC.

In the same vein, Nadia Navarro (PRI) commented: “As long as we do not have sovereignty over raw materials, we will continue to prohibit them here, but we will bring in raw materials from other countries, as is the case with cotton, where transgenic cotton is consumed in Mexico.”

PT member Lilia Aguilar countered that genetically modified corn does not generate productivity, but rather dependence on those who produce it and the seeds from it.

The PAN, PRI and MC parliamentarians also questioned the consequences that this reform could have on the renegotiation of the USMCA and the irresponsibility of not having analyzed the risks that Mexico faces.

Opposition representatives said that while they believe in the protection of native corn , they regretted the lack of clarity of the initiative with the addendum that President Claudia Sheinbaum sent on the 18th.

Members of the PRI, PAN and EMEM considered that there was no justification or motivation for the change in language between the first and second initiative on the matter that the president sent.

MC spoke out in favor of excluding hybrid and mutagenic corn from the decree, since there is information about its resistance to pests and diseases.

jcp