PRODUCTIVE OPTIONS WITH MULTIPLE EFFECTS: AN ENERGY CROP FOR SOUTHEASTERN MEXICO (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Given the disinterest of the neoliberal State in seeking options that would allow the poor in the countryside to live from agriculture in rural Mexico, migration continues. If they don't manage to migrate, they sell their land at ridiculous prices. Along with the land go identity and culture.

The Yucatan Peninsula in the Mexican southeast is a rich reservoir of Mayan culture. Due to its warm climate and limestone soils, it has had few productive agricultural options, which have been sought by clearing low sub-deciduous forest. Thus, the most humid region has been dedicated to sugarcane, a crop in crisis that the owners of the mills are taking advantage of to monopolize land. In the drier areas where henequen dominated, there has been a change in land use towards urbanization.

The climate and soil of the Peninsula may be conducive to planting an oilseed that, in its place of origin, has been the basis for establishing a multipurpose cooperative that is generating very interesting local development. It is the Jatropha curcas (Jatropha), a tree of the euphorbiaceae family native to Mexico and Central America. In Mazatepec, a small community in the State of Morelos, a non-toxic variety of Jatropha (Doña Fernanda) was developed that can live between 40 and 50 years, producing seeds with about 50% oil and whose paste contains about 25% protein. with good digestibility. This Jatropha is the productive engine of the Biomázatl Cooperative. From these plantations the Cooperative obtains: high-quality industrial oil that is sold almost entirely to Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) as raw material for bioturbosine; biodiesel oil; dielectric oil, which is the one that gives the best income; glycerin for soaps, shampoo, creams, ointments and toothpastes; protein paste for animal feed; Vermicompost as a fertilizer and soil improver for aromatic herbs and organic vegetables for export. In addition, Jatropha is planted on stony and hillside terrain, helping to control erosion. Jatropha is a net carbon sequester. In this way, it has been the center of new productive activities that are providing income and food to a cooperative that has never had credit from the government or the bank. In this project, our objective is to test Jatropha on already cleared land in the Yucatan Peninsula, as an agroforestry crop inte