On the occasion of National Corn Day, President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo presented the creation of the program “No Corn, No Country”, aimed at boosting the production of native corn with direct benefits for small farmers, through guaranteed prices and the sale of tortillas made by the producers themselves.
During her morning press conference “Las Mañaneras del Pueblo”, the president explained that although there are currently guaranteed prices for a sector of producers, there are still groups without coverage. In this sense, the new program seeks to ensure that those who grow corn in central, southern, and southeastern Mexico obtain fair income and well-being through this ancestral activity.
Sheinbaum emphasized that this strategy complements programs such as Producción para el Bienestar and Fertilizante Gratuito. It is also backed by constitutional reforms to Articles 4 and 27, which protect Mexico’s corn varieties and prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified crops. She stressed that these changes safeguard the genetic diversity built over thousands of years by the country’s Indigenous peoples and farmers.
In her remarks, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Alicia Bárcena Ibarra highlighted that Mexico is the center of origin of corn, with 64 recognized varieties, 59 of which are native. “Corn is identity, food security, and a symbol of cultural resistance. Its domestication began 9,000 years ago, and today we must thank the farming and Indigenous families who preserve our agrobiodiversity,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mexico City’s Secretary of the Environment, Julia Álvarez Icaza, pointed out that the country holds the world’s largest living germplasm bank, since corn conservation takes place in each agricultural cycle. She stressed that this crop, the most widely planted globally, represents an issue of food security not only for Mexico but for the entire world.
