In Mexico Investing in rural people
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©IFAD/Carla Francescutti
Investing in
rural people
in Mexico
Rural poverty in Mexico
According to World Bank data, in 2010, in rural areas of Mexico,
61 per cent of people were living beneath the national rural
poverty line, i.e. more than 15 million rural people out of a total
rural population of around 25 million.
In general, three factors determine poverty status in Mexico:
• Geographic area and proximity to urban centres – The incidence of rural
poverty is highest in areas that are far from urban centres, whereas populations
living near urban centres have greater opportunities for income diversification.
• Ethnicity – The poverty rate in indigenous communities is well above that in
non-indigenous communities.
• Gender – Women head most single-parent households and face a lack of job
opportunities and access to productive resources.
The causes of rural poverty in Mexico are partly structural. Poverty arises from a lack
of access to basic services such as health, education, sanitation and housing, and to
resources such as land, technology, knowledge and credit, which would enable small
farmers to improve their productivity and income.
The causes are also partly transitional, triggered by economic crises that have
hindered economic and social development. According to a report issued in February
2012 by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy
(CONEVAL), food price increases and the lack of long-term economic growth have
reduced household purchasing power and contributed to poverty in Mexico.
In addition, rural poverty reflects the income inequalities that prevail in the region. For
example, while Mexico’s GDP per capita is US$9,640, the average income of the
poorest 20 per cent of the rural population is only US$456 per year.
Rural poverty in Mexico is concentrated in areas with large indigenous populations,
notably in the southern states. According to a World Bank report, in 2011, 75 per cent
of indigenous people in the country were living below the poverty line and 39 per cent
were in extreme poverty in 2009. In Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero States, extreme
poverty affects more than half of the population.
According to official figures on multidimensional data from the National Council for
Evaluation of Social Development Policy, poverty and extreme poverty rates among
indigenous people are much higher than the rural average: 72.3 per cent and
30.6 per cent, respectively. In addition, 22 per cent of non-poor indigenous people
are considered vulnerable as measured by unmet social needs or income.
Rural households in Mexico have diversified their livelihood strategies. An average of
8 per cent of their total income comes from their own farming businesses;
6 per cent from livestock; 5 per cent from other natural resource uses; 14 per cent
from paid farm work; 32 per cent from paid off-farm work; 6 per cent from self-
employment in the sale of non-agricultural goods and services; 20 per cent from
remittances from elsewhere in Mexico and from the United States; and 10 per cent
from government transfers, including two major public programmes, Procampo
(2 per cent) and Oportunidades (3 per cent). In the past two decades, income
inequality nationwide and in urban areas has fallen about 10 per cent, whereas in
rural areas it has risen.
One of the reasons underlying the socio-economic situation described above is
the concentration and regressiveness of agricultural subsidies and transfers. Public
spending on agriculture per capita in poorer states is 20 to 30 times less than in the
wealthier states in the north of the country. Finally, another factor that has an impact
on people’s wellbeing is violence, which is directly attributable to drug trafficking.
There were 25,961 homicides in 2012.
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Eradicating rural poverty in Mexico
Over the years, the Mexican authorities have worked to build a legal framework for
lasting rural and social development. The Sustainable Rural Development Act of 2001
and the Social Development Act of 2003 were adopted to promote equal opportunities
and sustained poverty reduction. In addition, initiatives such as the 2003 National
Rural Agreement, between major organizations of farmers and producers, aim to
improve productive capacity.
Targeted social protection initiatives such as the Oportunidades’ conditional cash
transfer and the Seguro Popular universal health insurance programmes have
helped to mitigate the effects of poverty in the wake of the global financial crisis.
In addition, several national programmes emphasize social development, natural
resource management and poverty reduction among indigenous peoples and other
marginalized groups.
Moreover, Mexico has taken an international leadership role in climate change
adaptation and mitigation, since the impacts of climate variability affect key sectors
providing sustenance and livelihoods for the population. In particular, lower
agricultural yields and insecure water supplies threaten the basic needs of both urban
residents and rural communities. In 2012, the Government set the main national
instrument of policy that tackles climate change: the Ley General de Cambio Climático
(General Law on Climate Change). This law determines the content of the national
policy on climate change, defines the obligation of the three levels of government and
establishes the institutional mechanisms needed to face this challenge.
More recently, the new administration that took office in December 2012 has been
working on a number of economic reforms and policy changes that have created an
unprecedented political opportunity for rural development in the country, which
includes: the National Development Plan 2007-2012 and under it, the Program
to Democratize Productivity, the National Crusade Against Hunger, and fiscal and
financial reforms.
©IFAD/Carla Francescutti
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©IFAD/Carla Francescutti
IFAD’s strategy in Mexico
Projects: 9 Since 1980, when IFAD began working in Mexico and has approved nine loans and
Total cost: US$352.7 million grants totalling US$178.1 million for agricultural development projects.
Total financing from IFAD:
US$178.1 million
Currently, IFAD focuses on improving income levels and employment in rural
Directly benefiting: communities, with special attention to indigenous communities, smallholder
130,405 households farmers and members of the ejidos, or areas of communal land used for agriculture.
It also promotes and strengthens the capacity of grassroots organizations to help
achieve sustainable, community-driven local development and encourages the
active participation of rural women and indigenous people in social and economic
decision-making in their communities.
The strategic objectives of IFAD’s country strategic opportunities programme are
based on its implementation experience and mirror the objectives of Mexico’s
National Development Plan 2013-18.
IFAD’s strategy in Mexico for 2013-2018 is guided by two strategic objectives:
• Help smallholders and farmers (campesinos) significantly increase their
productivity by strengthening their assets, organizational and other capacities, and
increasing their access to goods and services markets, and to public services.
• Contribute to the Government’s efforts to make public spending on smallholders
and campesinos more efficient and equitable, particularly with regard to:
coordination, design, service quality and relevance, impact and sustainability over
time, beneficiaries’ organizational capacity, social participation and transparency,
and synergies with social policy.
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©IFAD/Pablo Corral Vega
In pursuing both objectives, priority will be given to indigenous peoples, rural youth and
poor rural households headed by women. Special attention will be paid to the relationship
between family farming, private enterprise and markets as well as to adaptation to climate
change. To this end, the main strategy will be to promote public-private associations
locally.
In line with these objectives, IFAD promotes measures that will increase crop yields
and livestock, and provide new markets for small-scale producers. IFAD also supports
microenterprise development projects, conservation of natural resources, linkages with local
markets, and the use of new technologies and information resources to benefit smallholder
farmers.
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Ongoing operations
Mexico City
"
Community-based Forestry Development
Project in Southern States (Campeche, Chiapas
and Oaxaca)
Rural Development Project in the Mixteca Region
and the Mazahua Zone
Rural Development Project in the Mixteca Region
and the Mazahua Zone
The objective of this project is to increase the income and employment of the Total project cost: US$47.5 million
rural poor and indigenous households in the semi-arid zones in Mexico, focusing Approved IFAD loan: US$18.7 million
on two main areas: Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla States in southern Mexico and Approved IFAD grant: US$2.0 million
Cofinancing: Spanish Food Security
Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Durango,
Cofinancing Facility Trust Fund
Baja California and Baja California Sur in northern Mexico. This project contributes (US$15.0 million), United Mexican States
to developing and consolidating pro-poor, small-producer value chains by (US$7 million), beneficiaries
(US$4.8 million)
strengthening the social fabric of rural and indigenous communities.
Duration: 2012-2018
The project has four main thrusts: Directly benefiting: 20,000 households
• promoting the formation and development of grassroots economic organizations;
• developing social and entrepreneurial management capacities among a new cadre
of local leaders, including rural and indigenous women and youth;
• supporting sustainable agricultural production through the rehabilitation and
sound management of natural resources, particularly access to water;
• developing entrepreneurial linkages and rural microenterprises while facilitating
wider access to markets.
The target group consists mainly of smallholder agricultural producers who cultivate
communal lands, unorganized small livestock producers, artisans with weak linkages
to markets, and rural and indigenous women and youth.
6©IFAD/Carla Francescutti
Community-based Forestry Development Project in Southern
States (Campeche, Chiapas and Oaxaca)
The Community-based Forestry Development Project, aligned with the national Total project cost: US$18.5 million
forestry policy, aims to improve the livelihoods and incomes of 18,000 households Approved IFAD loan: US$5.0 million
in extremely poor forest communities in the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Cofinancing: Global Environmental
Facility (US$5.0 million)
Chiapas and Oaxaca. The project is being implemented by Mexico’s National Forestry
Duration: 2011-2016
Commission (CONAFOR) in order to strengthen, in cooperation with project
Directly benefiting: 18,000 households
beneficiaries, the capacity of communities to better manage their natural resources,
enhance conservation practices such as increasing vegetation cover, and establish
mechanisms to cope with the impact of climate change.
More specifically, the project:
• provides training in management and sustainable use of forests and plants
• strengthens community skills in organization and planning
• helps create profitable and sustainable timber and non-timber activities for
indigenous communities, women and other vulnerable groups who have limited
access to land
• strengthens CONAFOR’s capacity to reach poor rural families.
7Completed operations Building a poverty-
free world
Sustainable Development Rural Development Project of The International Fund for Agricultural
Project for Rural and the Mayan Communities in the Development (IFAD) works with poor
Indigenous Communities of Yucatan Peninsula rural people to enable them to grow
the Semi-Arid North-West Total cost: US$17.2 million and sell more food, increase their
Total cost: US$33.0 million Approved IFAD loan: US$10.4 million incomes and determine the direction
IFAD loan: US$25.0 million Duration: 1997-2004 of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD
Duration: 2006-2012 Directly benefiting: 10,000 households has invested about US$15.8 billion in
Directly benefiting: 7,105 households
grants and low-interest loans to
Rural Development Project for the developing countries through projects
Strengthening Project for Indigenous Communities of the reaching approximately 430 million
the National Microwatershed State of Puebla people and helping to create vibrant
Programme Total cost: US$43.0 million rural communities. IFAD is an
Total cost: US$28.0 million Approved IFAD loan: US$25.0 million international financial institution and
IFAD loan: US$15.0 million Duration: 1993-2000 a specialized UN agency based in
Cofinancing: Global Environmental Facility Directly benefiting: 17,000 households Rome – the United Nations’ food and
(US$4.0 million) agriculture hub. It is a unique
Duration: 2005-2010
Development Project for Marginal partnership of 173 members from
Directly benefiting: 8,800 households
Rural Communities in the Ixtlera developing countries, the Organization
Region of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
Rural Development Project for Total cost: US$53.3 million (OPEC) and the Organisation for
Rubber-Producing Regions Approved IFAD loan: US$30.0 million Economic Co-operation and
of Mexico Duration: 1991-2000 Development (OECD).
Total cost: US$55.0 million Directly benefiting: 14,500 households
Approved IFAD loan: US$25.0 million
Duration: 2001-2009
Oaxaca Rural Development
Directly benefiting: 20,000 households
Project
Total cost: US$57.2 million
Approved IFAD loan: US$22.0 million
Duration: 1980-1987
Directly benefiting: 15,000 households
Contact:
Tomás Rosada
Country Programme Manager
Via Paolo di Dono, 44
00142 Rome, Italy
Tel.: +39 06 54592332
Fax: +39 06 54593332
E-mail: t.rosada@ifad.org
For further information on rural poverty in
Mexico, visit the Rural Poverty Portal
http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org.
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463
E-mail: ifad@ifad.org
www.ifad.org
www.ruralpovertyportal.org
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©IFAD/Pablo Corral Vega
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