In Mexico, HEFE brand products are notably prominent, thanks to its exclusive distributor, Polaquimia, part of the Polak Group, which is one of the world’s leading food suppliers.
Mexico, with a territory that is more than double the total land area of the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) bloc, stands out in agriculture with more than 21.2 million fertile hectares, making it the 11th largest agricultural producer in the world.
Mexico’s vast arable area also implies the need to protect it against threats such as climate change, uncontrolled deforestation, population growth, and financial and energy crises. These factors represent significant challenges that affect the country’s agricultural productive capacity.
CHALLENGE IN MEXICO
In Mexico, soil degradation and loss of organic matter have reached alarming levels in the last decade. This problem, common in countries with significant agricultural production, is due to the exponential increase in agricultural activity to meet high food demand. The widespread focus on farming without regard for conservation and the preference for mineral fertilizers have contributed to worsening soil health in this period.
In addition to rapid soil degradation, Mexico faces climatic and environmental conditions conducive to the proliferation of insect pests and fungal diseases.
Faced with soil degradation and challenging conditions, Mexican growers are looking to invest in plant health and plant nutrition solutions that are more innovative than traditional practices. The focus is on biotech products designed to induce physiological processes directly in the plant, as opposed to the direct application of mineral nutrients in the soil. In addition, opting for products with a high organic matter composition may be key to moving towards an agriculture that protects soil health and avoids soil non-viability over successive crop cycles.
Biosolutions in Mexico: adaptation with difficulties
The Mexican agri-food industry could experience enormous benefits from the promotion of and investment in biosolutions. Although there is significant technological adoption from Spanish, European and North American suppliers, demand in the country is not yet fully satisfied. Companies specializing in agricultural biosolutions, mainly biostimulants and bionutrients, face significant challenges in terms of slowness and costs in obtaining registrations for this type of products, with a validation period of 16 to 24 months and costs that can reach up to US$20,000 per product for analysis, studies and official registrations.
